· Ya.I.

Perelman

CAN
BE
FUN
.' MIHPublishers
� Moscow , ,
•••••• •••••••• •••••

Ya.1. Perelman

ALGEBRA •

CAN !
•
BE •

FUN J
I Edited and supplemented
by V. G. Bolt.yailsky
Translated
from the thirteenth Russian edition
by George Yankovsky

Mir Publishers . Moscow

•
.••••••••.•••••••• !
 first published 1979
Revised from the 1975 Russian edition

© English translation, Mir Publishers, 1979

 From the Allthol"s Prefaee
to the Third Edition

This is not an easy-reading text on algebra for beginners.

Neither is it a manual. I t is a book for free reading. It is
designed for a reader with some knowledge of algebra, even
though half mastered and perhaps half forgotten. The pres­
ent text hopes to help the reader recall such haphazard
knowledge and polish it up, the aim being to fix certain
facts in his mind. It is meant to develop in the reader a
taste for algebra and problem-solving, and also excite him
to dip into algebra textbooks and fill in the blanks in his
knowledge.
To make the subject more attractive I have made use of
a variety of tools: problems with intriguing plots to excite
the reader's curiosity, amusing excursions into the history
of mathematics, unexpected uses that algebra is put to in
everyday affairs, and more.

5
 Contents

From the Author's Preface to The Biggest Number Using Four

the Third Edition 5 On� 35
Four Twos to Make the Biggest
Chapter J. The Filth Operation
Number 36
of Mathematics 11
The Fifth Operation 11. Chaptor II. The Language 01
Astronomical Numbers 12 Algebra 38
How Much does the Earth's The Art of Setting up Equa-
Atmosphere Weigh? 14 tions 38
ComblUltion Without Flames or The Life of Diophantus 39
Heat 15 The Horse and the Mule 41
The Changing Weather 16 Four Brothers 42
A Combination Lock 17 Two Birds by the Riverside 43
The Superstitious Cyclist 19 Out for a Stroll 45
The Rcsults�of. Repeated Doubl- Making Hay 46
ing 20 Cows in the Meadow 50
Millions of Times Faster 21 Newton's Problem 53
Ten Thousand Operations per Interchanging the Hands of a
Second 25 Clock 55
The Number of All Possible Chess The Hands of a Clock Come To-
Games 28 gothcr 58
The Secret of the Chess Ma­ Guessing Numbers 59
chine 29 lmaginnry Nonsense 63
The Biggest Number USing Only The Equnlion Does the Think-
Three Twos 32 ing 63
Three Threes 33 Curios and the Une.xpected 64
Three Fours 33 At the "Barber's 67
Three Identical Digits 34 Tramcars and 3 l'edeatrian 6S

7
 Rafts and a Steamboat 70 Guessing a Birthday 126
Two Cans of Coffce 71 Selling Chickens 128
A Question o[ Dancing 72 Two Numbers and Four Opera-
ileconnaissancc at Sea 73 tions 131
At the Cycle Track 75 What Kind of Rectangle? 132
A Competition of Motocyclists 76 Two Two-Digit Numbers 133
A verage Speeds 78 Pythagorean Numbers 135
High-Speed Computing Ma- An Indeterminate Equation of
chines 80 the Third Degreo 139

Chapfer lIT. As an Aid t o Arith­

One Hundred Thousand for the
Proof of a Theorem 143
metic 92
Chapter V. The Sixth Mathemati-
Instantaneous Multiplication 02
cal Operation 146
The Digits 1) 5 and 6 95
The Numbers 25 and 76 96 The Sixth Operation 146

Infinite "Numbers" 96 Which Is Greater? 147

Additional Payment 100 Solve It at a Glance 149

Divisibility by 11 101 Algebraic Comedies 150

A License Number 103 Chapter VI. Seeond-Degree

Divisibility by 19 105 Equations 154
A Theorem of Sophie Ger-
Shaking Hands 154
main 106
155
Swarms of Bees
Composite Numbers 107
A Troop of Monkeys 156
The Number of Primes 109
Farsighted Equations 157
The Largest Prime Discovered Euler's Problem 158
So Far 110 Loudspeakers 160
A Responsible Calculation 110
The Algebra of a Lunar Voy-
When It's Easier Without AI- ag el 162
geha 114 "A Hard Problem" 166

Dio phant ine Equa­

Finding Numbers 168
Chapter IV.
tions 116 Chapter VII. Largest and Smallest
Buying a Sweater Values 170
116
Auditing Accounts Two Trains 170
120
B uying Stamps
123 Planning the Site of 8 Flag Sta­
BUYinp f,'ruit 124 tion 172

8
A n Optimal Highway 175 Paying for the Wounds of a
When Is the Product a Maxi­ Soldier 204
mum? 177
When Is the Sum a Minimum? 181
Cha pte r IX. The Seventh Mathe-
matical Operation 206
A Beam of Maximum Volume 181
Two Plots of Land 182 The Seventh Operation 206
Making a Kite 183 Rivals of Logarithms 207
Building a House 185 The Evolution of Logarithmic
Fencing in a Lot 187 Tables 209
A Trough of Maximum Cross Logarithmic-Table Champions 210
Section 188 Logarithms on the Stage 2H
A Funnel of Maximum Capac- Logarithms on a Stock�naising
ity 190 Farm 213
The Brightest Illumination 192 Logarithms in Music 215
The Stars, Noise and Loga­

Chapter VIII. Progressions

rithms 217
195
Logarithms in Electric Light�
The Most Ancient Problem Deal- ing 218
ing with Progressions 195 Making out a Will for Hundreds
Algebra on Squared Paper 196 of Years 220
Watering the Garden 198 Constant Growth of Capital 222
Feeding Chickens. 198 The Number e 224
A Team of Diggers 200 A Logarithmic Comedy 226
Apples 201 Any Number via Three
Buying a Horse 202 Twos 227
 Chapter one

'l'HE FIFTH OPERATION

OF 1\'IA'l'HEMATICS

The Fifth Operation

Algebra is often called the "arithmetic of seven opera tions",
thus stressing the fact that the four commonly known mathe­
matical operations are supplemented by three new ones:
raising to a power and its two inverse operations.
We start our algebraic talks with the fifth operation­
raising a number to a power.
Do the practical affairs of everyday life have any need
for this operation? It turns out they do. We often encounter
such situations. First recall the many cases of computing
areas and volumes that ordinarily call for squaring and
cubing figures. Then the force of universal gravitation, elec­
trostatic and magnetic interactions, light and sound that
diminish in force in proportion to the second power of the
distance. The periods of revolution of the planets about the
sun (and of satellites about planets) are connected with the
distances from the centre of revolution by a power relation­
ship: the squares of the periods of revolution are in the
same ratio as the cubes of the distances.
One should not think that real life involves only second
and third powers with higher powers found only in the
problems of dlgebra books. Engineers dealing with strength­
of-materials calculations constantly find themselves up
against fourth powers and even (when computing the diame­
ter of a steam pipeline) sixth powers. A water engineer
studying the force with which running water entrains rocks
also has to deal with a sixth-power relationship. If the rate
of the current in one river is four times that in another, the
11
fast river is capable of rolling rocks that are 4', or 4096,
times heavier than those carried by the slower river. *
Even higher powers are encountered when we study the
relationship between the brigiltness of an incandescent body
(say the filament in an electric light bulb) and its tempera­
ture. The total brightness (luminance) in the case of white
heat increases with the twelfth power of the temperature; ill
the case of red heat, it increases with the thirtieth power of
the temperature (we refer here to absolute temperature,
that is, we reckon from minus 273 'c). This means that a body
heated say from 2000' to 4000' absolute temperature, that is
by a factor of two, becomes brighter b y a factor of 2", which
is more than 4000 times greater. We will come back to this
remarkable relationship when we deal with the manufactur­
ing of electric light bulbs in a later chapter.

Astronomical Numbers
Hardly anyone makes as much use of the fifth mathemati­
cal operation as astronomers, who are constantly dealing
with enormous numbers that consist of one or two significant
digits and then a long string of zeros. If we were to write out
in full all of these trully "astronomical" numbers, it would
be very inconvenient, especially in calculations. Take the
distance to the Andromeda Nebula. Written out in full in
the ordinary way, we have the following number of kilo­
metres;
95 000 000 000 000 000 000.
N ow if we were to express this distance in a smaller unit,
say, centimetres-and this often happens in astronomical
calculations-we would have to add five more zeros:
9 500 000 000 000 000 000 000 000.
• For more about these things see my book Recreational Mechanics
(in Russian),

12
 The masses of stars call for still bigger numbers, especially
if they are expressed in grams (and many calculations call
for grams). The mass of tlle sun expressed in grams comes to
1 983 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000.
It is easy to imagine the difficulties involved in calcula­
ting with such unwieldy numbers and also the cbances of
making mistakes. Yet the above-mentioned numb ers are
by far not the largest to be found in astronomy.
The fifth mathematical operation serves as a simple way
out of this complication. The number one followed by a
string of zeros is always a definite power of ten:
100 = 10" 1000 = 10', 10 000 = 10' and so forth.
The two giant numbers given above can now be written
down neatly as
95 . 102' for the first number and
1983 . 1030 for the second number.
This is done not only to save space but also to simplify
calculations. If we needed to multiply these two numbers
together, all we would have to do is find the product
95 ·1983 = 188 385 and put it in front of the factor
10 23+30 = 10":
95 . 1023 . 1983 .1030 = 188 385 ·10".
This is of course much more convenient than to write out a
number with 23 zeros and then one with 30 zeros and, final­
ly, with 53 zeros. Not only is it more convenient but also
more reliable, since it is easy to miss ODe or two zeros in
such long strings of them, and the result would b e wrong.

13
 How lUnch does
the Eal'th's Atmosphere Weigh?
Here is a convincing way to simplify practical calculations
by means of exponential notation (using exponents to ex­
press powers of numbers): let us determine how many times
the mass of the earth is greater than the mass of the earth's
atmosphere.
As we know, each square centimetre of the earth's sur­
face supports a column of air equal to one kilogram . The
atmospheric shell of the earth is, as it were, made up entirely
of such columns of air-as many as there are square centi­
metres on the earthIS surface. That is how many kilograms
the atmosphere of our planet weighs. From a reference book
we find the earth's surface to be equal to 510 million, or
51 ·10', square kilometres.
Now figure out how many square centimetres there are in
a square kilometre. A linear kilometre contains 1 000 metres
with 100 centimetres in each, which means it is equal to
10' cm, and a square kilometre contains (10')' � 10lO square
centimetres. And so the earth IS surface works out to
51 ·10' . 1010 � 51 ·10"
square centimetres. And that also is the weight of the earth's
atmosphere in kilograms. Converting to (metric) tons, we
get
51 . 1017: 1000=51 · 10" : 103 = 51 . 10"- 3 = 51 . 10 "'.
N ow the mass of the earth is taken to be
6 . 1021 tons.
To determine OOW much heavier the globe is than its
atmosphere, we perform the following division:
6 · 10": 51 · 10 " "'" 10',

14
 which means that the mass of the atmosphere is roughly one
millionth of that of the earth. *

Combustion \Vithout Flames

or Heat
Ask a chemist why wood or coal burns only at a high
temperature and he will tell you that strictly speaking car­
bon combines with oxygen at any temperature, but that at
low temperatures the process is extremely slow (which
means a very small number of molecules enter into the re­
action) and so is never detected. The law that governs the
rate of cbemical reactions states that a drop in the tempe­
rature of 1 0 " reduces the rate of the reaction (the number of
participating molecules) by a factor of two.
Let us now apply this to the reaction of wood combining
with oxygen, which means "hurning". Suppose at a flame
temperature of 600", one gram of wood burns up completely
in one second. How long will it take for one gram of wood to
burn up at 20"? We already know that at a temperature
that is lower by 580 = 58 ·10 degrees, the rate of reaction is
less by a factor of
2"
wbich means 1 gram of wood will burn up in 2" seconds.
How many years is that? We can get an approximate an­
swer without performing 57 multiplications by 2 and witbout
using logaritbmic tables. Let us make use of the fact tbat
210 = 1024 "" 103•
Hence
2 " 2"'-2 230 2 2 = J.... 2 60 J..4 .. (2 10)' "" J..4 .. 10"
= = •
•

4
=

• The sym bol � stan ds for " approximate equali ty".

15
which is about a quarter of a quintillion seconds (quintil­
lion as in the American and French system of numeration).
There are 30 million (or 3 . to') seconds in a year, and so
1

( � . 10" ) : (3 . 10') � 12 · 10 " "'" 10 '0

Ten thousand million yearsl That is roughly how long it
would take for a gram of wood to burn without flames and
heat.
Thus, wood and coal burn at ordinary temperatures without
even being set fire to. The discovery of tools for making
fire have accelerated that impossibly slow process by a factor
of thousands of millions.

'l'he Changing Weather

PROIJLEM
Let us describe the weather using only one characteristic:
cloudy or not cloudy. Days will be described as clear or
overcast. Do you think there will be many weeks with diffe­
rent changes of weather under this condition?
There would appear to be very few: a month or two will
pass and all combinations of clear and overcast days in the
week will have been exhausted. Then one of the earlier
combinations will inevitably recur.
But let us calculate exactly how many distinct combina­
tions are possible under these conditions. This is a problem
that unexpectedly leads us to the fifth mathematical ope­
ration.
The problem is: in how many different ways can clear and
overcast days alternate in one week?
SOLUTION
The first day of the week is either clear or overcast: that
gives us two combinations.
16
 Over a two-da y period we have the following possible
alt.ernations of cloar and overcast days:
clear and clear,
clear a nd overcast,
overcast and clear,
ov ercast and ov ercast.
Thus, in two days we have 22 distinct alternations. In a
tlnee-day period, each of the four combinations of the first
two days combines with two combinations of the third day;
there will be
2' · 2 = 2'
alternations in all.
In four days the number of alternations will reach
2' . 2 = 2'.
In five days, there will be 2' alternations, in six days 2', in
seven days (one week), 2' = 128 distinct alternations.
Hence, there are 128 weeks with a distinct sequence of
clear and overcast days. A total of 128 ·7 = 896 days will
pass before one of the" earlier combinations is repeated.
A repetition can of course occur bofore tbat, but 896 days is
the period after which a recurrence is inevitable. And con­
versely, two years and more (2 years and 166 days) may pass
during which the weather in one week will not be like that
of any other week.

A Combination I.ock
PROBLEM

A safe was discovered in an old building, but no one knew

. the combination of letters out of the 36 on the rim of each
of the five circles that would unlock the safe. So as not to
break the safe, it was decided to try all combinations of the
2-08\)1 17
 Jettets on the rim at the rate 01 three seconds for each new
combination.
Was there any chance of hitting upon the right combina­
tion within the next 10 days?
SO LUTION

Our task now is to calculate the total number of combina­

tions of letters that have to be tested.
Each of the 36 letters of the first circle can combine with
each of 36 letters of the second circle. This brings the total
of two-letter combinations to
36 ·36 = 36'

To each of these combinations we can adjoin any combi­

nation of 36 letters of the third circle and so there ar� a
possible
362 ·36 = 36'

combinations of three letters.

Continuing in the same way, we obtain 36< possible four­
letter combinations and 365 five-letter combinations, or
60 466 176 . To run through these 60-some million combina­
tions would require (at the rate of 3 seconds per combina­
tion)
3 ·60 466 176 = 181 398 528

seconds, or 50 000 hours, or nearly 6300 eight-hour working

days, which is more than 20 years.
Thus, the chances that the safe will be opened within 10
working days, is 10 out of 6300 or one in 630. This is a very
small probability .
18
 '.'he SllpeI'stitiotis Cyclist
PROBLEM
Cyclists have six-digit licence numbers on their bicycles.
A man bought a bicycle but, being superstitious about a pos­
sible crash-up, called "figure-eight" in cyclists' terminology,
he was worried about an u8" appearing in his licence number.
However, after some thought, he calmed down realizing
that 10 digits (0, 1 , . :., 9) can take part in each number
and there is only one unlucky digit, 8. Therefore there is
only one chance in ten of his getting an unlucky number.
Was his reasoning correct?
SOLUTION
There are 999 999 numbers in all: from 000 001 to 999 999.
Now let us see how many lucky numbers there are. The
first position can accommodate any one of the nine] lucky
numbers: 0, 1 , 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 , 7, 9. The second position too. And
therefore there are 9 . 9 � 9' lucky two-digit combinations.
To each of these combinations we can adjoin (in the third
position) any one of nine digits and so we come up with
9' · 9 = 9' lucky three-digit combinations.
In the same way we determine the number of six-digit
combinations that are lucky: 9'. True, one has to take into
account the number 000 000, which cannot be used for a
licence plate. Thus, the number of lucky licence numbers
is 9' - 1 = 531 440., which is slightly more than 53 % of
all the numbers and not 90 % , as our cyclist had presumed.
We leave it to the reader to figure out that there are more
unlucky numbers than lucky ones among seven-digit num­
bers.

19
 The Results 01 Repeated Donbltn!l
A striking example of an exceedingly fast build-up of some
small quantity when repeatedly doubled is the famous
legend about tbe award to be given to the discoverer of
chess. * Here are some other examples, less famous.
PROBLEM
The infusorian paramecium divides in half on the average
every 27 bours. If all newly born infusorians remained alive,
how long would it take for the progeny of one paramecium to
fill up a volume equal to that of tbe sun?
Starting data: the 40th generation of a paramecium, when
none perisb, occupies one cubic metre; we take the volume
of the sun as equal to 10" cubic metres.
SOLUTION
The problem reduces to determining how many times 1 cu­
bic .metre has to be doubled in order to obtain a volume of
10" cubic metres. Since 210 "" 1000, we bave
10" � (10')' "" (210)' 290.=

Which means that the fourtieth generation has to undergo

another 90 divisions before it attains the volume of the sun.
And the total number of generations, from the first on,
comes out to 40 + 90 = 130. It is easy to calculate that
this will occur on the 147th day.
In passing, we may note that microbiologist Metalnikov
actually observed 8061 divisions of paramecium. I leave it
to the reader to figure out wltat a staggering volume the last
generation would occupy if not a single infusorian had pe­
rished.
Another in teresting problem is the converse of the one
just proposed.
'" Sec my hook Figures for Fun, Mir Publishers, Moscow.

20
 Imagine the sun to divide in half, then the halves also
i n half, and so on. How many divisions will it take to reduce
the sun to the size of an infusorian?
Although the reader already knows the answer, 130, it
seems strikingly out of all proportion.
This same problem was proposed to me in the following
form.
A sheet of paper is torn in half, one of the halves is again
torn in half, an� so on. How many divisions will it take to
reduce the paper to the size of an atom?
Assuming the paper weighs one gram and an atom is tak­
en to be on the order of 1/10" gram, we reason as follows.
Since it is possible to replace 10" by the approximately
equal expression of 280, it is clear that only 80 halving ope­
rations will be required, which is nowhere near the millions
that one often hears as an answer to the problem.

Millions of '['irues Faster

An electric device called a trigger (or flip-flop) circuit
contains two electron tubes (transistors or so-called printed
circuits Can take the place of electron tubes). In a trigger
Circuit, current can flow through only one tube: either the
left-hand one or the right-hand one. The trigger circuit has
two contacts to which a transient electric signal (pulse)
can be fed and two contacts through whicll the response from
the circuit is delivered. When an electric signal is fed to the
trigger, it switches: tllO tube (hnt was conducting current is
disconnected, and the current passes through the other tube.
The response signal is delivered by the circuit when the
right-hand tube is nonconducting and the left-h and tube is
conducting.
Let us see how the trigger circuit will operate when sevo­
ral electric signals Rrc delivered to it in succession. We will
describe the state of the circuit b y its right-hand tube: if no

21
curront flows through tho right-hand tube, we say tbat the
circuit is in "state 0", if current flows, then i t is in "state 1" .
To start, let us suppose the circuit is in state 0, which
means the left-hand tube is conducting (Fig. 1). After the
first pulse, current will flow through the right-hand tube

Slarting state a

10 %1
7 sl pulse

After first pulse: ,aate 1

% 01
I
Response pulse 2nd pulsr

After second pulse: state 0 and

delivery of response pulse

Fig. I

and the circuit switches to state 1 . In this state there is no

response signal from the circuit since that can occur only
when tho right-hand (not tho left-hand) tube is off.
After tho second signal, the current flows through the
left-hand tube, and the circuit is again in stato O. But in
this state tho trigger circuit delivers a response signal (pulse).
Thon, after two pulses, tho circuit returns to its original
state. Therefore, after the third pulse, the circuit is in state
1, just as it was after tho first pulse. After the fourth pulse
tho circuit is in state 0 (like it was aftor the second pulso)
with a simultaneous delivery of the response signal, and so
on. The stato of the circuit is repoated aftor every two pulsos.
22
 Now suppose there are several trigger circuits and that
signals are deliverod to the ftrst circuit, rosponses of the
first circuit are delivered to the second circuit, responses
of the second are delivered to the third, and so forth (in
Fig. 2 the trigger circuits are arranged from right to left).
Now let uS soo how such a chain of trigger circuits 'wi!l ope­
rato.
To bogin with, suppose all circuits are in state O. For iu­
stance, for a chain consisting of five circuits we have the

-1,--O_O---,H °
3rd trigger
°
2nd trigger
H° 1 st
°
trigger
�s
Fig. 2

combination 00000. After tho flrst signal, tho first (right­

most) circuit is in state 1, and since there is no response
pulso, all other circuits are in stato 0, and the chain may be
described by tho combin.tion 00001 . After the second sign"l,
tho first circuit bocomes nonconducting (stato 0), but will
deliver a rosponso signal that switches on tho second trigger
circuit. The other circuits remain in state 0, and we get the
combination 00010. After tho third signal, the first circuit
goos on, and the other circuits remain in their states. We
got the combination 0001 1 . After tho fourth signal, lho first
circuit goes off and del ivers a respon'3e signal; the re�ponse
turns of! the socond circuit and also yiolds a respoDse; fmal­
Iy, this latter signal turns on tho third circuit and wO get
th e combination 00100.
23
 Continuing in the same manner, we linalJy get the fol­
lowing sot of combinations:

1 st signal - combination 00001

2nd signal - combina lion 00010
3rd signal - combination 00011
4th signal - combination 00100
5th signal-combination 00101
6th signal - combination 001 10
7th signal - combination 00111
8th signal - combination 01 000

We see that the chain of trigger circuits "counts" tbe in­

coming signals and records them in a system of zeros and
ones. It is easy to see that this system is not our familiar
decimal system of numeration but the binary system.
In the binary system of numorntioll, every number COn­
sists of ones and zeros. The unit of the next higher order is
two times that of the preceding order, and not ten times
�reator, as it is in the decimal system of notation. The unit
in the rightmost position in binary notation is the ordinary
unit. The unit in the next higher order (or place)-second
from the right-denotes two, the next order denotes four,
the next eight, and so forth.
For example, the number 19 � 16 + 2 + 1 is written ill
binary as 1001 1 .
And s o w e have a chain of trigger circuits that counts the
number of incoming signals and records thorn in the binary
system of notation. An important thing to note is that the
switching of a circuit (that is, the recording of one incoming
pulse) takes a few hundred millionths of a second! Modern
circuits can count tens of millions of pulses por second, which
is millions of times faster than what a human being can do
without any instruments: the human eye can distinguish
24
the signals in a sequence if they don't come faster than one
every tenth of a second.
If we make up a chain consisting of twenty trigger cir­
cuits, which amounts to recording the number of signals by
means of at most twenty digits in binary notation, then we
can count up to 2" 1 . This number exceeds a million.
-

Now if we made up a chain of 64 circuits, we could write

down the famous chess number.
The ability to count millions of signals a second is very
important in experimental studies and nuclear physics. For
example, it is possible to connt the number of particles of a
certain kind that fly out of a nucleus in radioactive disinte­
gration.

Ten Thousand Operations per Second

It is a remarkable thing that trigger circuits permit one to
perform operations on numbers. Let us examine the addi­
tion of two numbers.

CQ- IL--_--'I- 1st summand

CQ C!::l �I,-----,
l�j-�r11
4th trigg�r 3rd trigger 2nd trigger
r-
1st trigger
sum

Fig.�3

Suppose we have tlu'Oe chains of circllits connected [IS

shown in Fig. 3. The topmost chain serves to record the
25
first term (or summand), the second chain records the second
term, and the bottom chain gives the sum. When the device
is switched OD, the circuits in the lower chain receive signals
from those in the upper and middle chains that are in posi­
tion (or state) 1.
Suppose, as is shown in Fig. 3, we hays the summands 101
and 111 (in binary notation) in the flI'St two chains. Then
the first (rightmost) trigger circuit of the bottom chain re­
ceives two signals when the device goes on: these signals
come from the f,rst circuits of e"ch of the summands. We
already know that the first circuit remains in state 0 upon
receiving two signals, but it sends a response to the second
circuit. Besides, the second circuit receives a signal from
the second summand. Thus, the second circuit receives two
signals and thus is in state 0 and sends a response pulse
(signal) to the third circuit. Besides that, the third circuit
receives two more signals (from each of the summands).
Upon receiving three signals, the third circuit goes to state
1 and sends a response signal. This response carries the
fourth circuit to state 1 (no other signals are sent to the
fourth circuit). As a result, the device shown in Fig. 3
performed, in binary notation, the addition of two numbers
by columns:
101
+111
1100
Of, in the decimal system of numeration, we have 5 + 7 =
� 12. The response pulses in the lower chain of circuits cor­
respond to the carrying operation: the device "remembers"
one unit and carries it over to the next order (column).
Now if each chain had, say, 20 circuits instead of 4. then
we could add numbers within a million. and with more cir­
cuits the numbers could be increased still further.
Actually, of course, the add unit has a more complic.ted
electrical network than that shown in Fig. 3. For instance,
the device has special circuits that delay the signals. The
point is that if signals from both summands arrived at the
first trigger circuit of the bottom chain at the same time
(that is, when the device is switched on), then they would
merge and be received as a single signal. This is circumvent­
ed by having the signals from the summands delayed so
that they come in one after another. As a result the addition
of two numbers takes morc time than the more recording of
a single signal in a flip-flop counter.
By changing the circuit system we can make the device
subtract. Multiplication is also possible (it amounts to
successive addition and therefore takes several times as
long as addition) and division and other operations too.
The devices we have just described are used in modern
computers, which are capable of hundreds of thousands, even
m illions of operations per second! Why millions, you might
ask. Is it really necessary? For instance, what difference
would it make if a computer spent one ten-thousandth of
a second (even a quarter of a second) more time in squaring
a i5-digit number? Aren't both practically instantaneous?
Don't hurry with your conclusions. Let us take a simple
case. A chess master makes a move only after analysing
tens, sometimes hundreds of possibilities. Now, if studying
a single variant takes several seconds, then a mental inves­
tigation of hundreds of possible moves would require min­
utes, tens of minutes. It often happens that in involved
games the players get into time-trouble and have to make
fast moves since almost all the time has been used up. Now
suppose we let a computer do the investigating of each pos­
sible move. A computer would certainly never have time­
trouble when it performs thousands of computations every
second; all imaginable possibilities would come out almost
instantaneousl y.
That a computer can perform complicated computations
you know, but do you know that a computer can play a
fairly good game of chess? We will have more to sayan that
subject a bit later.

27
 The Number of All Possible
Chess Games
Let us make an approximate calculation of the total num­
ber of different chess games that can ever be played on a
chess board. An exact calculation is quite beyond us, but we
will acquaint the reader with a very rough estimate of the
total number of possible chess games. The Belgian mathema­
tician M. Kraichik makes the following calculation in his
book entitled The Mathematics of Games and Mathematical
Diversions.
"In the first move, white has a choice of 20 moves (16 moves
for the eight pawns, each of which can move one or two
squares and two moves each of the two knights). For each
move of white, black Can respond with one of the same
20 moves. Combining each move of white with each move
of black, we have 20·20 � 400 different games after the
first move of each side.
"After the first movo, the number of possible new moves
increases. For example, if white made the first move P-K4,
then it has a choice of 29 moves the next time. The number
of possible moves continues to increaso. For instance the
queen alone, standing on Q5 has a choice of 27 moves (on
the assumption that all squares that it can move to are ya­
cant). To simplify matters, let us assume the following
average numbers:
20 possible moves for both sides in the first five moves;
30 possible moves for both sides in all subsequent moves.
"Also, we talm the average number of moves in a single
game to be 40. Then we get the following expression lor the
number of possible games:
(20· 20)' , (30 . 30)35".
To get an approximate idea of this figure, let us make a
few simplifying transformations
(20 . 20)'. (30 · 30) " � 20" · 30" � 2"·3" . 1080

.28
 Replace 210 b y t he approximation '1000, or 10', an d ex­
press 370 as
370 = 3"·;)""" to (3')17 "" '10·80"·= 10.817.'1 0" = 2"· to"
� 2 (210 )'. to" "" 2·10"· to" � 2·10".
And so we obtain
(20·20)'. (30·30)35 "" 10'·2.10".1080 � 2 ·10U6 .
This number leaves far behind the legendary number of
grains of wheat asked as payment for the invention of chess
(that number was a mere 2" - 1 "" 18. 10"). If the whole
population of the world played chess round the clock making
ODe move every second, then it would take no less than
10'00 centuries to exhaust all the games in this marathon
of chess!

The Secret of the Chess l\laehine

You will probably be very surprised to learn that auto­
matic chess-playing machines have been around for quite
some time. How can we reconcile this fact with the practi­
cally limitless number of combinations of the chess pieces?
Very simply. The machines never did really exist. They
were merely a figment of the imagination. A very popular
machine was that of the Hungarian mechanician Wolfgang
von Kempelen ( 1734-1804) who demonstrated his machine
at the Austrian and Russian courts and then publicly in
Paris and London. Napoleon I played a game of chess will.
it and was confident that he was playing against a machine.
In the middle of last century, the famous automatic chess­
playing machine came to the United States and fmally per­
ished in a fire in Philadelphia.
Other chess-playing machines did not become as famous,
but the belief persisted that such machines really could
play chess.
29
 in actua i fact, not a singie chess-playing machine operat­
ed automatically. There was always a clever chess master
very much alive inside and he did the playing. The famou,
machine of Kempelen was in the form of an enormous box
f!lled with complex machinery. On top of the box was a chess­
board with chess pieces that were moved by the hand of a
large doll. Before the game, anyone of the spectators could
look inside and Con vince himself that no one was hidden
there. But the trick was that there was still space enough
to hide a small-size man (the part was played at one time
by such famous chess masters as Johann Allgaier and Wil­
liam Lewis). It may be the hidden player moved from section
to section of the huge machine as the public was invited to
investigate the mechanisms. Actually, the machinery did
not in the least participate in the games and only served to
hide the human player.
From all this we can conclude that the number of chess
games is for all practical purposes infinite and machines
capable of automatically making the most correct moves
exist only in the minds of wishful thinkers. There is there­
fore no need to fear a crisis in the game of chess.
However, recent developments in the computer field cast
some doubt on the correctness of our conclusion. There
already exist computers that have been programmed to play
chess. These are extremely complicated computing ma­
chines capable of performing many thousands of operations
per second . We have already discussed such computing
machines. Now let us see how a computer actually plays
chess.
Of courso, no computer can do more than carry out opera­
tions on numbers. But the computations are carried Qut by
the machine in accordance with a speciflc scheme of opera­
tions, a defmite program that has been worked out before­
hand.
A chess program is set up by mathematicians on the basis
of a definite tactical plan of the game; by tactics we mean a
30
 system 01 rules which lor each position permits choosing a
unique move, which is the best move from the standpoint of
the given tactical plan. Here is au example. To each chess
piece is assigned a dennite number of points (the volue of
the piece):

L�g in � pawn
King +200 points Pawn +1 poi nt
Quee'n +9 poin ts -0.5 poi nt
Rook -\-5 points Iso ate pawn -0.5 point
Bishop +3 points Doubled pawn - 0 .5 point
K n ig ht +3 poi nts

Besides that, there are dennite values attached to posi­

tional advantages (mobility of men, positions closer to the
centre than to the edges of the board, and so forth) that are
expressed in tenths of a point. Now subtract the total num­
ber of points for black from the total for white . The diffe­
renCe obtained gives a certain picture of the material and
positional advantage of white over black. If the difference is
positive, then white has a better position than black, but
if it is negative, then the position is worso.
The computer determines how the difference may change
over the next three moves and chooses an optimal variant
out of all possible three-move combinations and then prints
out "move made". * For ono movo, the computer requires
very little time (depending on the type of program and the
speed of the computer) so that time-trouble is something
that never affects a chess-playing computer.
• There arc other chess tactics too. F or example, the p rog ram may
not provide for all p ossible retal iatory moves of the op pon en t but
onl y strong moves, such as check, take, off ensive, defensive and the
l ike. Al so, relative to some very strong moves of the opponent, the
prog ram may provide for more than three mov es ahead. A di ff erent
scal e of v al ues for the c-
t. h e machin e exhi bi ts changes with the tactics chosen.

31
 't rue, a machine that can "think through" only three
moves ahead is a rather weak "player". (Good chess masters
think through 10 and morc moves ahead ill their combilla­
tions .) But on the other hand, rapid progress is being made
in the computer [ield ami we can expect much better com­
puter players in tbe near future.
There are a great many more interesting things in compu­
ter-played chess, but they are all far beyond the scope of a
book like this. In the next chapter we will consider some
elementary computer programs.

'l'he B iggest Nnmber Using Only

'l'hree Twos
The reader is probably familiar with the biggest number
that can be written by means of three digits. You take three
nines and arrange them thus:

which is the third "superpower" of 9.

This number is so enormous that no comparisons can help
to gauge its immensity. The total number of electrons in the
visible universe is a pigmy beside this towering giant. In
my book Recreational A rithmetic lin Hussianl there is a
discussion of this monster. The reason why I have come
back to the problem is that I want to suggest a different one
in the same style.
Write down the largest number using three twos and not
using any operational signs.
SOLUTION
Ullder the fresh impression of the three-storey arrange­
ment of nines, you will probably ltUrI'y to put the twos ill
32
 ·
the same way:

But this time the effect is quite different. The number is

very small, even less than 222. Indeed, all we have is 2',
which is 16.
The truly largest number is not 222 and neither is it
22' (or 484) but
222 � 4 1 g4 304.
This example is very instructive. I t shows that in mathe­
matics it is not always wise to proceed by analogy.

'l'hree Thl'ees
PROBLEM

You will probably be more cautious when you approach

the following problem:, write down the largest number
using only three throes and no signs of operations.
SO LUTION
The throe-decker arrangement does not produce the de­
sired result either since
3
33 is only 327, which is less than 333,
which is the largest number and the answer to our problem.

PHOBLEM
Write down the largest number using only throe fours
and dispensing with any operational signs.

3 -089 1 33
 SOLUTION
If you try the pattern of the two preUlding problems,

you will be wrong because this time the tower of three fours,
4 I' ,
does yield the largest possible number, True enough, 4' =

= 256, and 425• is greater than 4 ".

Three Identical Digits

Let us take a closer look at this perplexing situation
where some figures generate giants in the stacked arrange­
ment, while others produce pigmies. Let us consider the
general case.
Use three like figures to write down the largest number
without resorting to any operational symbols.
We denote the chosen number by the letter a. Associated
with the arrangement
222, 333, 4 44
we have the following notation:
a 10a+a or at la.
Now the three-tier arrangement looks like this:

Let us now figure out for what value of a the last arrange­
ment depicts a larger number than the first arrangement.
Since both expressions are powers with equal integral bases,
it follows that the greater quantity corresponds to the
greater exponent. Now when is
a" > l 1a?

34
 Divide both sides of the inequality by a to get
aa-{ > 1 1 .

I t is easy t o see that a·-1 is groater than 11 only i f a

exceeds 3 because
44- 1 > 1 1 ,

wheroas the powers

3' and 2'
aro less than 11.
Now it is clear why we were caught unawares when work­
ing the earlier problems: one arrangement is best lor twos
and throes, and an entirely different one for fours and larger
numbers.

'l'he Biggest Number Using Four Ones

PROBLEM
Use four ones to write down the largest number (no mathe­
matical symbols are allowed).
SOLUTION
The ftrst thing that comes to mind -1111 -is many times
smaller than the power
1 1 1 1.
Hardly anyone will have the patience to multiply out this
expression, but we can estimate its value much faster by
using tables of logarithms.
The number exceeds 285 thousand million and conse­
quently is some 25 million times greater than the number
1111.

•• 35
Four 'I'wos to l\lake tIle Biggest Numbet·
PROBLEM
Continuing this series of problems, let us now try four
twos. What arrangement of four twos depicts the largest
number?
SOLUTION
Altogether there are eight possible combinations:
2222, 2222, 2222, 2222.
22
222 2 ,
22 22
22 , 22 , 22 .
Which one represents the largest number?
Let us try the top row ftfst, that is, numbers in two
stories.
The ftfst one, 2222, is clearly less than any of the others.
To compare the next two: 222' and 2222 , transform the
second thus:
2222 � 22 " " � (222) " � 484".
The last number exceeds 222' because both the base and
the exponent of 4841 1 are greater than in the case of 222' .
Now compare 2222 with the fourth number of the first
row, 2222. We replace 2222 by a greater number 3222 and then
show that even this greater number falls short of 2'22.
True enough,
3222 � (25)22 �
2 '10
which is a smaller number than 2222 (the exponent is small­
er).
And so 'we have the largest number in the top row: 2"' .
That leaves us with five numbers to compare : 2222 and
the following four numbers:
22 2 2 , 22 22 1 2 222 , 2 22
2 .

36
 The last number, equal to 216, is too small to continue
the contest. Now the first number is equal to 22' and is
less than 32' or 2". It is less than each of the two numbers
that come after it. Thus we have three numbers for com­
parison and each is a power of 2. It is quite evident that the
number with the largest exponent is the largest number.
Now of the three exponents,
222, 484 and 2 20+ 2 ( � 2 1 O · '. 2' ''''' 106 . 4)
the last one is clearly the largest.
And so the largest number that can be depicted by means
of four twos is
2
22 2 .
We can get a rough picture of the size of this number
without resorting to logarithmic tables if we take the fol­
lowing approximate equality
210 "" 1000 .
Then
222 � 220 • 2 ' "'" 4 . 10',

2222 � 24 000 000 > 10 1 200 000 .

Which means the final number has more than a million
digits.
 Chapter two

THE hl\NGUAGE OF ALGEBRA

The Art of Setting up Equations

The language of algebra is equations. Here is wbat the
great Newton wrote in his algebra textbook entitled A rithme­
tica Universalis ( Universal A rithmetic) : "J n order to settle a
question referring to numbers or to the abstract relationships
between quantities, one needs only to translate the problem
from one's own language to the language of algebra." The
following is a problem that Newton translated from human
terms into the terms of algebra:

In ordinary laITguage:
I In lhc language or algebra:

I
A merchant has a certain sum x
of money.

he then I
iOO pounds.
Duri ng the first year he spent x - l00

I
To the remaining sum x - l00 4x- 400
added one third of it . (x- l00) +
3 3

During the next year he again

spent 1 00 pounJ5.
Il
And increased the remai n i ng Iox-700
4x- 400

4x- 700
3
100�
4x-700
3
16x-2800
sum by onc third of it. +
3 9 9

agaiJl
During the third year he
spent 100 pOD nds.
I1 1 00, - 2800
9
100=
16x- 3700
9

dCf ouo third of it

After he added to the remain' 16x -370J I6x - 3700 64x-14800
�
9 27 27

38
 In ordinary language: In t.he language or algebra;

his capital was twice the origo

ina! amount .
l 64x - 1 4 800
27
2x

. To determine the original capital at the disposal of the

merchant, one only has to solve the last equation.
Solving an equation is often a rather simple matter, the
real difficulty lies in setting up the equation on the basis
of available facts. You have just seen that the art of setting
up an equation does indeed reduce to translating from ordi­
nary language to the language of algebra. But the language
of algebra is one of few words, and so translating phrases of
everyday speech into algebraic terms is often a hard job, as
the reader will sec from some problems given below wher�
the task is to set up equations of the first degree.

The Life of IHopitantns

PROBLEM

Very few facts about the life of the marvellous mathema­

tician of ancient times Diophantus have como down to us.
All that we know about him is taken from an inscription
made on his tombstone in the form of a mathematical prob­
lem. It reads:

In ordinary language:

Traveller] Here re...t the ashes

I In the language of algebra:

x
of Diophant.us. 'tis a mirach�
that numbers can measure
the length of his life.
 In ordInary langufll;(;:
I In the language of algebra:

A sixth portion of it was

beautiful childhood.
"I x
6

After a twelfth pHrt of his Ii fe

x
was ov er, down covered his
chin. 12

-x7
I
A sev enth part he spent in
childless wedlock.

Five years then passed and he

rejoiced in the birth of his 5
first son,'

whom Fate m easured out a joy-

x
Earth only hnll 01 that 01
ous and radiant life on this
2
his father's.

And i n deep grief the old man

+ 12 + "7+ 5-1-2+4
x x x x
ended his days on Earth, four x
years after losing his son. =6

S o how m any years did Diopbantus live

before dealh overtook him?

SOLUTION
Solving the equation, we fmd that x � 84 and we also
learn that he married at the age of 21, became a father at
the age of 38, lost his son when he was 80 and died when he
was 84.
40
 The Horse and the llinle
PROBLEM
Here is another old problem that can readily be translated
from words into algebraic symbols.
"A horse and a mule, both heavily loaded, were going
side by side. The horse complained of its heavy load. 'What
arc you complaining about?' replied the mule. 'If I take one
sack ofl your back, my load will become twice as heavy as
yours. But if you remove one sack from my back, your load
will be the same as mine.'
"Now tell us, wise mathematicians, how many sacks was
the horse carrying and how many sack", the mule?"
SOLUTION

I
If take one sack,

I x-I

m y load
I y+l

will be twice as heavy as yours.

I y + l = 2 (x-I)

But if you take one sack from my back, 1 y-l

your load
I x+l

will be the same as mine.

I y-l=x+l

We have reduced the problem t o a system of equations in

two unknowns:
y+ 1 =
2 (x - 1)} or {2X - y =
3
y - 1 = x + 1 y - x = 2.

Solving it, we find that x = 5 and y = 7. The horse was

carrying 5 sacks and the mule 7 sacks.
41
 Four Brothers
PROBLEM

Four brothers have 45 rubles. If the money of the first is

increased by 2 rubles and the money of the second is decre­
ased by 2 rubles, and the money of the third is doubled, and
the money of the fourth is halved, then all of them will
have the sarno amount of money. How much does each have?
SOLUTION

Four brothers have 45 rubles.

I x+ y + z + t = 45

If the first brother gets two morc rubles, I x+2

y-2
the second has two rubles taken away.
I
the third has his sum doubled,
I 2,
t
the fourth ha:\ hi:! sum ha lved,
I "2

I t
then all four brothers will ha ye the same
sum of m oney _
x + 2� y - 2�2'� "2

First we split - the last equation into three separate equa-

tions:
x + 2 � y - 2,
x + 2 � 2z,
t
x+2�2 '
whence we have
y � x + 4,
x..'.L.2
z � -2- -

t � 2x + 4.

42
Then, substituting these values into the first equation, we
obtain

And from this we get x = 8 . Then we find y = 12, z = 5,

and t = 20, which means the four brothers have B, 12, 5
and 20 rubles.

Two Birds by tIle Riverside

PROB LEM

Here is a problem of an Al"abic mathematician of the

1 1 til century.
Thero are two palm trees, one opposite the other on each
side of a river. One is 30 cubits high, the other 20 cubits.
Tho distance botween the foot of oach treo comeS to 50 cu­
bits. A bird is perched on the top of each troo. All of a sud­
den, the birds seo a fish como to the surface of the river be­
tweon tho palm treos. They dive at the same time and roach
tho fish at the sarno timo.
Find the distance between the foot of the tailor troo and
the fish .
SOLUTION

Using the drawing shown in Fig. 5 and applying the theo­

rem of Pythagoras, we get
AB' = 30' + x', A G' = 20' + (50 - x)'.
But AB = A G since both birds coverod their distances in
the same time. And so
30' + x' = 20' + (50 - x)' ..

43
 Fig. 4

Opening the brackets and simplifying, we obtain a

first-degree equation 100x � 2000, whence x � 20. The
B

Fig. 5
f1sh appeared at a distance of 20 cubits from the palm tree
which is 30 cubits high.
44
 Out for a Stl'oll

PRODLEM

"Drop in tomorrow," said the old doctor to his friond.

"Thank you. I'll start out at three. Perhaps you will want
to take a walk. If you do, leave at the same time and we'll
meet half way."
"You forget that I'm rather old and I can only do 3 km
an hour; you are much younger and most likely do 4 km an
hour even at a slow pace. You'll have to give me a head
start."
"True enough. Since I do one km more per hour than you
do, I 'll give you a head start of one kilometre, which means I
start out a quarter of an hour earlier. Will that be enough?"
"That's very kind of you," the aged doctor replied.
And that was the way it was: the young man started out
at two forty-flYe and walked at 4 km per hour. The doctor
left his house at three sharp and did 3 km per hour. When
they met, the old doctor turned around and accompanied
his young patient to the house.
It was only when the young man got home that he real­
ized that because of the quarter-hour he'd given the doctor,
he himself had to cover four times the distance (not twice)
that the doctor covered.
What is the distance between the two houses?

SOLUTION

Denote the d istance between the two houses by x (km).

I n all, the young patient walked 2x km and the doctor
four times less, or xl2 km. When they met, the doctor had
covered half of his distance, or x/4, and the young man the
remaining distance, or 3x/4. The doctor walked his distance
in xl12 hour, the young man in 3x/16 hour, and we know
that he spent 114 hour more than the doctor.
45
 This gives us the equation
3x x 1

2 .4
16 - 12 = 4
whence x = km, which is the distance between the
young man's houso and the doctor's house.

Making Hay
A. V. Tsinger, a prominent physicist, rocalls Lev Tolstoy
posing the following problem, one that tho great writer
liked very much.
"A team of haymakers were assigned the task of scything
two meadows, one twice the size of the othor. Half a day

Fig. 6

the team worked on the larger meadow. Then it split into

two equal groups: the first remained in the larger meadow
and finished it by evening; the second group scythed the
46
smaller meadow, but by evening there still remained a por­
tion to do; this portion was scythed the next day by one
haymaker in a single day's work.
"How many men woro there in the team'?"
SOLUTION

Here, besides the chief unknown-the number of men,

which we denote by x-it is convenient to introduce another,
auxiliary, unknown, Dnmely the area scythed by a single
worker in one day; we denote it by y . Although the problem
does not require us to find y, it will help us in finding the
basic unknown.
We now express the area of the larger meadow in terms of
x and y. This area was worked for half a day by x scythemen;
I xy
they mowed x ·2 · y = 2
.
DUring the second half of the day, it was worked by half
of the team, or x/2 scythemen; they did
x 1 xy
2'2,y=T'
Since the whole meadow was mowed by evening, the
tot31 area was
xy xy 3xy
2 + 4=- -
4 '
Now let us use x and y to express the area of the smaller
meadow. A total of x/2 scythemen worked on it for half a <lay
and mowed an area equal to � ; .y
. =;: . Adding the uncut
'

portion, which is equal to y (the area cut by a single scythe­

man in one working day), we get the area of the smaller
meadow:
xy xy+4y
4 +y= 4
It now remains to put jnto algebraic language the phrase
"the first meadow is twice the size of the second meadowl>
47
and we have the equation
-3xy
-. xy +4y
2 or 3xy
xy +4y
2.
4 ' 4
Cancelling y out of the left-hand member of the equation
(since y is not needed), we get an equation that looks like
this:
or 3x � 2x + 8
whence x � 8.
The team of scythemen consisted of 8 men.
After the first edition of A 1gebra Can Be Fun came out,
Professor A. V. Tsinger sent me a detailed and extremely
interesting account of the background of this problem. The
principal effect of tIle problem, in his opinion, is that "it
is not in the least an algebraic problem, but an arithmetic
one and what is more it is very simple, the only diffIculty
being its unusual form."
Professor Tsinger goes on to describe llOW the problem
originated. "In the period when my father and my uncle
I . 1. Raevsky (a close friend of L. Tolstoy) studied at the
mathematics department of Moscow University, there was a
subject something like pedagogy. It consisted in students
visiting an ordinary city school selected by the University
to acquire some teaching experience under the guidance of
the best teachers. Now there waS a student by the name of
Petrov, a friend of Tsinger and Raevsky, and he was an
extremely gifted and imaginative fellow. This Petrov (who
died at a very early age of tuberculosis, l believe) main­
tained that the children were being spoiled at · arithmetic
lessons by standard problems and routine methods of solv­
ing them. To confirm his belief, Petrov invented problems
that were quite out of the ordinnry and put the best teachers
in a quandary, but were easily solved by capable studonts
who had not yet been spoiled by school. One of these was the
problem of the team of scytherrien (Petrov thought up a
48
number of such problems). Experienced teachers were able,
quite naturally, to solve them with the aid of equations, but
a simple arithmetic solution eluded them. Yet, the problem
is so simple that there is no need to resort to algebraic
methods.
"If the whole team worked on the larger meadow for half
a day and half the team for half a day, then it is clear that

1;3

Y3
Y6

!i3 Y3

Fig. 7

half the team can cut 1/3 of tho meadow in half a day. This
means that in the smaller meadow there is an uncut portion
equal to 1/2 - 1/3 = 1/6. If one scytheman can work 1/6
of a meadow in one day, and a total of 6/6 + 2/6 � 8/6
was cut, then there must be 8 workers.
"Tolstoy, who all his life enjoyed tricky problems that
were not too involved, learned about this problem from my
father when still a young man. When J met Tolstoy-al­
ready an old man-and discussed the problem with him, he
was most delighted by the fact that the problem becomes
still clearer, literally transparent, if a very simple drawing
is employed in the solution (Fig. 7)."

!" - O B 9 1 49
 We will now look [nio several problems that are mor�
easily solved arithmetically than algebraically if one has
quick wits.

Cows in the U
i eadow
PROBLEM
"'¥hen studying the sciences, problems are more useful
than rules," wrote J . Newton in his Universal Arithmetic
and accompanied his theoretical propositions with a number

Fig. 8

of examples. Among these exercises was a problem of pastur­

ing cows, one of a special kind of peculiar problems some­
what like the following.
50
 '''rhe grass in a meadow grew equally thick and fast. It
was known that 70 cows could eat it up in 24 days, while
30 cows could do it in 60 days. How many cows would crop
the grass of the whole meadow in 96 days?"
This problem served as the plot of a humorous story rather
reminiscent of Chokhov's Tutor. Two grown-ups, relatives
of the schoolboy whose task it was to solve the problem,
are having a tough time and making little headway.
"This is very strange," says ono, "if 70 Cows erop the grass
in 24 days, then how many will do that in 96 day,? N atu-
rally, 1/4 of 70 is 1 7 � cows . . . . That's the first piece of non­
senso. Here's <1nother piece: 30 cows crop tho grass in 60
days; how many cows will do that in 96 days? Still worse,
we have 18 ! cows. What is more, if 70 cows do the job in
24 days, then 30 cows need 56 days, and not 60, as stated in
the problem."
"Have you taken into account that the grass is growing
all the time?" asks the other one.
That remark is very much to the point: if the grass is
constantly growing and this is disregarded, then it is not
only impossible to solve the problem, but even the starting
hypothesis will appear to be contradictory.
So how is the problem worked?
SOLUTION
Again we introduce an auxiliary unknown that denotes
the daily increase (growth) of grass in fractions of its supply
in the meadow. In ono day it grows by an amount y. In 24
days it grows 24y. If the total amount is, say, 1, then in 24
days the cows will eat up
1 + 24y.
And in one day, the herd totalling 70 cows will eat
1 + 24y
24

,. 51
and one cow will eat
1 + 24y
24·7 0 .

grass of the meadow in 60 30

Likewise, from the fact that cows would have cropped the
days, we conclude that one cow
consumes per day an amount equal to
1 + 60y
30.60 .

But the amount of grass consumed by a cow in a day is the

same for both herds, and so
H- 24y 1 + 60y
24 · 70 30·60
whence we get

Having found y (the increase), it is easy to determine

what portion of the original amount of grass was consumed
by one cow in one day:

1 + 24y 1
24 ·70 1600 •

Finally, we set up an equation for the final solution to

the problem: if the desired number of cows is x , then
1
I + D6 . 7;OO
1
D6x 1600

20 20.
and we have x =
Thus,
days.
cows would have eaten up all the grass in 96
52
 Newton's P.'ohlelll
Now let us consider Newton 's problem of oxen, after
which the preceding one was patterned.
Incidentally, the problem was not devised by Newton
himself but is the product of folklore in mathematics.
"Three meadows covered with grass of the same thickness
an d rate of growth have the following areas: 3 ; hectares ,
24
4
10 hectares and hectares. The first served to feed 12 oxen
during weeks and the second, 21 oxen during 9 weeks.
How many oxen can feed on the third meadow in the course
of 18 weeksl"
SOLUTION
We introduce an auxiliary unknown y to denote what por­
1
tion of the original supply of grass increases in growth over
hectare in one week. In tho first meadow, ono week sees an
incroase - of 3 � Y, and in four weeks the grass increases by
3 ; y ·4 ;0 y of the original supply over one hectare. This
=

is the same as saying that the original area increased to

(3 � + � y)
hectares. In other words, the oxen consumed as much grass
3
as covers a meadow with an area of ; + � y hectares. In
ono week, 12
oxen consumed a fourth part of this amount,
and ono ox in one week consumed a 4� th part, which is the
available supply over an area of
10+40y
144
hectares.

53
 In exactly the same way, we fmd the area that foeds one
ox during one week from tho data for tho second meadow:
one-week growth over 1 hectare � y ,
nine-week growth over 1 hectare = 9y,
nine-week growth over 10 hectares � gOy.
The area of pasture land containing a supply of grass
for feeding 21 oxen during 9 weeks is
10 + 90y.
The area sufficient to feed one ox during one week is
1 0 + 90y 1 0 + 90y
9 · 21 189

hectares. Both feeding quotas must be the same:

11l+40y 10+90y
144 189
Solving this equation, we get y = 1/12.
N ow let us determine the area of the meadow whose avail­
able supply of grass is enough to feed ono ox during one
week:
I
10+40 . 12 5
1 0 + 40y
144 144 54
hoctares. Finally, we take up the problem proper. Denoting
the desired number of oxon by x, we have
5
I
24+24-18 . 12
18x 54
and from this we get x � 36. The third meadow can feed
36 oxen during 18 weeks.

54
 Intel'cllanging the Hands of a Clock
PROBLEM
The biographer and friend of the eminent physicist Al­
bert Einstein, A. Moszkowski, wished to distract his friend
during an illness and suggested the following problem
(Fig. 9).
The problem he posed was this: "Take the position of the
hands of a clock at 12 noon. If the hour hand and the minute

Fig. 9

hand were interchanged in this position the time would still be

correct. But at other times (say, at 6 o'clock) the interchange
would be absurd, giving a position that never occurs in
ordinary clocks: the minute hand cannot be on 6 when the
hour hand points to 12. The question that arises is when
and how often do the hands of a clock occupy positions in
which interchanging the hands yields a new position that
is correct for an ordinary clock?
"'Yes,' replied E instein, 'this is just the type of problem
for a person kept to his bed by illness; it is interesting
enough and not so very easy. I'm afraid though that th�
55
amusement will not last long, because I already bave my
fmgers on a solution. '
"Getting up in bed, he took a piece of paper and sketched
the hypothesis of the problem. And he solved it in no more
time that it took me to state it."
How is this problem tackled?
SOLUTION

We measure the distances of the hands round the dial

from the point 12 in sixtieths of a circle.
Suppose one of the required positions of the hands was
observed when the hour hand moved x divis ions from 12,
and the minute hand moved y divisions. Since the hour hand
passes over 60 divisions in 12 hours, or 5 divisions every
hour, it covered tho x divisions in xl5 hours. In other words,
x/5 hours passed after the clock indicated 12 o' clock. The
minute hand covered y divisions in y minutes, that is, in
y/60 hours. In other words, the minute hand passed the
figure 12 a total of y/60 hours ago, or
x
5 - 00
y

hours after both hands stood at twelve. This number is

whole (from 0 to 11) since it shows how many whole hours
have passed since twelve.
When the hands are interchanged, we similarly find that
y x '
5 - 00-
whole hours have passed from 1 2 o' clock t o the time indicat­
ed by the hands. This is a whole number (from 0 to 11).
And so we have the following system of equations:

{�-io=m
y x
5 - 00 �n
56
where m and n are integers (whole numbers) that can vary
between 0 and 11. From this system we fmd
'60 (!2m + n )
X= 143
60 (12n+m)
y
143
By assigning m and n the values from 0 to 1 1 , we can
determine all the required positions of the hands. Since
each of the 1 2 values of m can be correlated with each of the
12 values of n, it would appear that the total number of
solutions is equal to 12 · 12 = 144. Actually, however, it is
143 because when m = 0 and n = 0 and also when m = 1 1
and n = 1 1 we obtain the same position of the hands.
For m = 1 1 , n = 11 we have
x = 60, y = 60
and the clock shows 12, as in the case of m = 0, n =0.
We will not discuss all positions , but only two.
First example:
ni = 1, n = 1;
60 · 13 ;)
y=o-
5
x = 143 = 5 !T '
•

11
5
and the clock reads 1 hour 5 IT minutes; the hands have
•

merged by this time and they can of course be interchanged

(as in all other cases of coincidence of the hands).
Second example:
m = 8, n = 5;
60 (5+ 12·8) 00 (8 + 1 2 · 5 ) �
� 28 . 53 .
,..,., 42 .38 , Y
..

x 143
�
143
The respective times are: 8 hours 28.53 minutes and 5
hours 42.38 minutes.
57
 We know the total number of solutions: 143. To find all
the points of the dial that yield the required positions of
the hands, one has to divide the .circular dial into 143 equal
parts, thus obtaining the 143 desired points. At intermediate
points no other suitable positions can be found.

'l'he Hands of a Clock Come 'l'o!Jether

PROBLEM
How many positions are there on a regular clock with
hour hand and minute hand in a coincident position?
SOLUTION

We can take advantage of the equations derived when solv­

ing tbe preceding problem; for if tbe hour hand and the
minute hand can be brought to coincidence, then they can be
intercbanged, and notbing will change. In tbis procedure,
both hands cover the same number of divisions from the
number 12, or x = y. Thus, from the reasoning of the preced­
ing problem we can derive the equation

where m is an integer between

we fmd
0 and 1 1 . From this equation
X
80m
= ---r1

Of the twelve possible values for m (from 0 to 11) we get 1 1

we find x = 60, that is, both hands cover
arrive at 12; the same occurs when m = O .
60
(not 12) distinct positions o f the hands because when m = 1 1
divisions and

.58
 Guessing Numbers
The reader is probably familiar with the game of guessing
numbers. The conjurer usually suggests performing opera­
tions like the following: think up a number,i add 2, mul­
tiply by 3, subtract 5, subtract the original number and so
on-a total of five, even ten operations. He then asks what
number you have and, with that answer, he gives you the
original number almost at once.
Tho secret of this "trick" is of course very simple, and
again equations give the answer.
Suppose the conjurer suggests a series of operations as
indicated in the left-hand column of the following table:

Think up a number
I x

add 2
I x+2

multiply the result by 3

I 3x + 6

subtract 5
I 3x + 1

subtract the original number

I 2x + 1

multiply by 2
I 4x + 2

subtract 1
I 4x+ 1

He then asks you for the final result and gives the answer
at once, How does he do this?
It is quite clear from a glance at the right-hand column of
the table, where the instructions of the conjurer have been
translated into the language of algebra. From thi.'; column it
is e"ident that if you think up a number x , then after all
the operations you get 4x + 1 . With this knowledge it is
easy to "guess" the original number.
59
 Suppose, for example, you got the number 33. What the
magician does is solve the equation 4x + 1 � 33 fmding
x = 8. In other words, he takes the fmal result, subtracts
one (33-1 = 32) and then divides that number by 4 to
get 32 : 4 = 8. So the original number was 8 . If your final
result is 25, the magician does some mental arithmetic
(25 - 1 = 24, 24 : 4 = 6) and comes up with the number
you thought up, which was 6.
So you see it is very simple. The magician knows before­
hand what has to be done with the result in order to obtain
the original number.
If that's so, then you can make your friends marvel by
letting them suggest the type of operations to be performed
on the thought-up number. You suggest that somebody
think up a number and perform operations of the following
nature in (lny order: add or subtract a known number (say.
add 2, subtract 5, and so on), multiply (but not divide
because that will greatly complicate the trick) by a known
number (by 2 OT 3 and so on), and then add or subtract the
original number. To get you completely confused, your
friend mounts operation upon operation. Say, he thinks
up 5 (which of course is kept secret), and then performs the
operations. It goes like this:
"I have thought up a number, multiplied it by 2, added 3,
and then added the original number; then I add 1, multiply
by 2, subtract the original number, subtract 3, and again
subtract the original number, and then subtract 2. Finally,
J multiply the result by 2 and add 3."
N ow convinced that he has you thoroughly muddled, he
gives the fmal number: " The result is 49."
To his great surprise, you nro the answer at him: 5.
HawaII that is done is now clear enough. When YOllr friend
states the . operations he is performing with the original
Dumber, YOH do the same with x. '¥hen he says " I have
thought up a number" you say (lo yourself): " I have x . "
He says, " I 've multiplied it by 2" (and he actually does
60
multiply the original number by 2), whereas you multiply
your x by 2 getting 2x. He adds 3 and you follow with 2x + 3,
and so forth. When at last he has you in a quandary with
his involved operations, you get wha t is shown in the follow­
ing table (the left-hand column is what your friend says
aloud, and the right-hand column contains the operations
that you perform mentally:

I have thougb.\. up a number

I multiply by 2
I
I
x

2x
I
add 3 to tho result
I 2., + 3

add the original nlllllopr

I 3x +3

add "1 ,
- I 3x -1- 4

milltijJly by 2
I ox 1 8
--

subtract the original number

I 5x + 8

subtract 3
I 5.< +- ;)

again subtract the origillill nl1mb�1'

I 4' , 1 5
.
4x + 3
subtract 2
I
f('Sll I t by 2 8x )- G
multiply the
I
anJ add 3.
I 8x + 9

Then you yourself complete the operations with the result

8x + 9. He says he has 49, which gives you the needed equa­
tion: 8x + 9 � 49. To solve it takes a second and you give
him the answer straight off: 5.
61
 'fhis is quite l\ startl ing trick becat1se you allow your
friend to think up any series of operations that he wants to.
True, there is one case when the trick fails. If, for example,
after a number of operations you get x + 14, and then your
friend says, "and now I subtract the original number and
have 14", you follow him with (x + 14) - x = 14 and you
do get 14 but there is no equation and you cannot guess the
original number. Here is a way out. As soon as you get a
result that doe. not contain the unknown x, you interrupt
your friend and say, "Stop! Without any help from you I
know what number you now have, it is 14". This is a still
greater surprise to your friend because he hasn't told you
anything! And although you cannot guess the real (original)
number, it is quito a trick after all.
Here is an example of how this is done (your friend's re­
marks are in the left-hand column as usual):

I have thought up a number

I x

I add 2 to it
I x+2

and multiply the result by 2

I 2x + 4

I now add 3
I 2.< + 7

I
'
subtract the original number x+7

add 5
I x+ 1 2

and then subtract the original number

I 12

'¥hen you get 12, which is an expression without the un­

port the number 12.
known x, that is when you have -t o stop your friend and re­
All you need is a little practice and you can put on a dis­
play of tricks with your friends.
62
 imagl nal'Y Nonsens(\
PROBLEM
Here is a problem that m ight appear to be absurd:
What is the number 84 if 8 · 8 is 54?
This strange question is by no means meaningless, and the
problem is solvable with the aid of equations.
Try to fIgure it out.
SOLUTION

You have probably guessed that the numbers in this prob­

lem are not in the decimal system of notation but in some
other system, otherwise the phrase "what is the number 84"
would indeed be senseless. Suppose the base of the system of
numeration is x. Then the number "84" stands for 8 units of
the second order and 4. units of the first, or
"84" = 8x + 4.
The number "54" means 5x + 4.
We now have the equation 8 · 8 � 5x + 4 or, in the deci­
mal system, 64 � 5x + 4 , whence x � 12.
The numbers are written in the duodecimal system of num­
bers, "84" = 8 · 12 + 4 � 100. Thus, if 8 · 8 � "54", then
"84" � 100.
The same kind of solution can be applied to another prob­
lem of this type.
What does 100 stand for if 5· 6 � 33?
Answer: 81 in the nonary (base-g) system of numbers.

The Equation Docs tbe 'rbinking

If yeu have ever doubted that an equation can sometimes
be cleverer than you yourself, work out the following
problem .
63
 The lather is :12 years old and his son is 5. How many years
will pass before the father is 10 times older than the · son?
If we denote the sought-for years by x, x years later the
father will be 32 + x and tbe son will be 5 + x. And since
the father must be 10 times older than his son, we have the
equation
32 + x = 10 (5 + x)
which, when solved, yields x = - 2.
"In minus 2 years" of course simply means two years be­
fore. When we set up the equation, we did not give thought
to the fact that the age of the father will never be 10 times
that of his son in the future; that ratio could only be in the
past. The equation, this time was a bit wiser than we were
and reminded us of our faulty thinking.

CUl'ios and the Unexpected

When working equations we sometimes come up with an­

swors that afe a mystery to the inexperienced mathematician.
Here are some examples.
l. Find a two-digit number with the following properties.
Tbe tens digit is less by 4 than the units digit. If we sub­
tract the desired number from the same digits written in
reversed order, we get 27.'
D enoting tbe tens digit by x and the units digit by y, we
can readily set np a system of equations for this problem:
x = y - 4'
{
(10y + x ) - (10x + y) = 27.
Substituting the vahlO of x from the first equation into
the second, we get
10y + y - 4 - 110 (y - 4) -I yl = 27
and, simplifying,
36 � 27.
We do not yet know the values of the unknowns but we
have learned that 36 � 27 . . .Yet what does that mean?
.

It merely means that there is no such two-digit number

that can satisfy the indicated conditions, and that the equa­
tions contradict each other.
Indeed, multiplying both sides of the first equation by
we get
9,
9y - 9x � 3G
and from the second equation (after removing brackets and
collecting terms) we get
9y - 9x 27. �

One and the same quantity 9y - 9x is, by the fIrst equa­

tion, equal to 36 and, by the second equation, to 27. This is
clearly impossible since 36 "" 27.
A si m il ar misunderstanding resul t s when so lving the
following system of equations:
{X2y2 � 8,
xy � 4.
Dividing the first equation by the second, we get
xy � 2
and now if we compare the resulting equation with the

{ Xy
second one above, we see that

xy 2 =
4,
or 4 = 2. There are no numbers that satisfy this system.
�

Such systems of equations that have no solution are said t o

be inconsistent.

5-0891 65
 II. A different kind 01 surprise awaits us if we alter the
condition of the preceding problem somewhat. We assume
that the tens digit is 3 (not four) less that the units digit,
otherwise the problem remains the same. What number is
that?
Set up a n equation. If the tens digit is denoted by x,
then the units digit becomes x + 3. Expressing the rest of
the problem in the language of algebra, we get
10 (x + 3) + x - [lOx + (x + 3)1 = 27.
Simplifying, we arrive at the equality
27 = 27.
This is undoubtedly true, but it tells us nothing about the
value of x. Does this mean that there are no numbers that
satisfy the requirements of the problem?
Quite the contrary, it means that the equation we set up
is an identity: it is true for all values of the unknown x.
Indeed, it is easy to see that in this problem every two-digit
number in which the units digit exceeds the tens digit b y 3
has this property:

14 + 27 = 41, 47 + 27 = 74,
25 -I- 27 = 52, 58 + 27 = 85,
36 + 27 = 63, 69 + 27 = 96.
Ill. Find a three-digit number with the following prop-
erties:
(1) the tens digit is 7,
(2) the hundreds digit is less by 4 than the units digit,
(3) if the digits of the number are reversed, the new num-
ber will exceed the original one by 396.
Let us set up an equation and denote the units digit by x:
100x + 70 + x - 4 - [ 100 (x - 4) + 70 + xl = 396.

66
 Aiter a few simp i iiications, th is equation yiei ds
396 = 396.
The reader already knows what this means: that every
three-digit number in which the frrst digit is 4 less than the
third (the tens digit plays no role) is increased by 396 if
the order of the digits is reversed.
Up to now we have been considering problems that are
more or loss artificial, bookish; their purpose was to help
acquire skill in setting up equations. Now that we are theo­
retically equipped, let us tackle some problems of a practi­
cal nature, from industry, everyday life, the military
sphere, and sports.

At the Hal'ber's
PROBLEM
Does algebra ever come in handy in cutting hair? Yes it
does. I became convinced of this when a barber once ap­
proached me with an unusual request:
"Could you please help us here in a problem we have?"
"We've spoiled so much of the solution because of it!" put
in another harber.
"\'\That is the problem?" I asked.
"We have two solutions of hydrogen peroxide: a 30 per
cent solution and a3 per cent solution. We want to mix them
and get a 1 2 per cent solution, and we can't find the proper
proportion. "
I took a piece of paper and quickly figured out the proper
proportion.
It turned out to be very simple. What was it?
S O L UTION

It can be solved by arithmetic but algebra does the job

faster and more simply. Suppose to make up a 12 per cent
,. 67
inixture we need x grams of the 3 per cent solut.ion and y
grams of the 30 per cent solution. Then in the fust portion
we have O.03x grams of pure hydrogen peroxide, and in the
second O.3y grams, or altogether
0.03x + 0.3y.
As a result we haye (x + y) grams of the solution in which
there must be 0.12 (x + y) grams of pure hydrogen peroxide.
We get the equation
0.03x + 0.3y � 0.12 (x + y).
From this equation we fwd x = 2y, which means we have
to take twice as much of the 3 per cent solution as of the
30 per cent solution.

T.'amcars and a l'edest.'iall

PROBLEM

While walking along a tram line 1 noticed that a tramcar

caught up with me every 12 m inutes, and every 4 m inut.es a
tramcar coming in the opposite direction passed me. We
were both (tramcar and 1) moving at a uniform rate.
Can you figure out what the time interval is between
tramcars leaving their terminals?
SOLUTION
If the tramcars leave their terminals every x minutes,
that means that x minutes after 1 have met a tramcar the
following car arrives a I. tha t spot. If it is Ca tching up with
me, then during the remaining 12 - x minutes it has to
cover the same distance that I do in 12 minutes. Thus, the
distance that I cover in ono minute is covered by the tram
. 12-x .
In � mmutes.

68
 N ow if tho tra m is coming towards me, then it will meet
me 4 minutes after the preceding one, and during the romain­
, in/( (x - 4) minutes it will covel' the same distance that I
do in 4. minutes. This means that the distance I cover in one
minute is covered by the tram in X�4 minutes.
We get the equation
12-x :r - 4
---n- = - 4-

which yields x = 6 , The tramcars start out every 6 minutes.

Here is another solut1 on, actually arithmetical. Denote
the distance between trams following one another by a.
Then the distance between me and the tram coming toward,
me will diminish by the amount al4 a minute (because
together in 4. minutes we cover the distance, equal to a,
between the tram that just passed and the next one). Now
if a tram is catching up with me, then the distance between
us diminishes every minute by a112. Now suppose that I
moved ahead during one minute and then turned around and
went back one minute (returning to the original spot). Du­
ring the first minute the distance between me and the tram
moving towards me would diminish by a14, and during the
second minute (when that same tram was now catching up
with me) the distance would diminish' by a112 . And so in
two minutes the distance between us would decrease by
i +t �
2 =
.The same would oc-cur if I stood still in one
spot, since after all movements I returned to that spot any­
way. And so if I didn't move, then in one minute (not in
:
a
two) the tram would approach me by the amount 3 2 =

= T, and the entire distance of a would be covered in 6

minutes. Which means that a tram passes a person standing
still every 6 minutes.
 Rafts and a Steamboat
PROBLEM
A steamboat covers the distance between a town A and a
town B (located downstream) in 5 hours without making
any:stops. Moving upstream from B to A at the same speed,
it�covers the sarno distance in 7 hours (again making no
stops). How many hOl)rs does it take a raft moving with
the speed of the river current to get from A to B? •

----+ 5 h
A B
I

A B
!
I

)?
i
A
r- _____________ -f I
._ 1
Fig. 10

SOLUTION
We denote by x the time (in hours) it takes the boat to
cover the distance between A and B in standing water (at its
70
own speed), and by y the time it takes the rafts to cover that
distance. Then the boat does 1/x of the AB distance in one
hour, and the rafts (going with the current) do 11y of that
distance. Thereforo when the steamship goes downstream it
covers 1/x + 1 1y of the AB distance, and going upstream
(against the current) it does 1/x - 1 1y. Now it is stated in
the hypothesis of the problem that going downstream the
ship does 1/5 of the distance in one hour, and going upstream,

{++f = +'
117. This gives us the following system of equations:

1 1 1
-X - y = T '
Note that in solving this system it is best not to get rid of
the denominators, simply subtract the second equation from
the fIrst. This yields
2 2
y 35
and so we get y = 35. The rafts cover the distance from A
to B in 35 hours.
Two Cans of Coffee
Pl\OBLEM
Two cans containing coffee have the sarno shape and a1'O
made out of the same tin. One can weighs 2 kg and is 12 em
high; the other weighs 1 kg and is 9.5 em high. Find the net
weigh t of the coffee in both cans.
SOLUTION
Denote the weight of the larger can by x , and that of the
smaller One b y y. Let the weights of the cans themselves be z

+ z
y + t = l.
2,=
and t, respectivel y. We then have the equations
{X
71
 Since the weights of the contents of full cans are in tim
same ratio as their lJolumes, that is! as the cubes of their
heights, * it follows that
x
9 "
=-
123
- or x = 2.02 y.
y . ....
"" 2.02

Now the weights of the empty cans are in the same ratio
as their total surface areas, which is to say I as the squares of
their heights. Therefore
z
9 " "" 1 . 60
-=-
122
or z= 1 . 60t.
t ."

Substituting the values of x and z into the first equation,

we get the following system:
{
2.02Y + 1.60t = 2,
y + t = 1.
Solving it, we find
l))
Y = 21 = 0.95, t = 0.05.
And so
x = 1.92, z = 0.08.

Thus, the net weight of the coffee in the larger can is 1.92 kg,
and that in the smaller can is 0.94 kg.

A. Question of Ha.udlln
PROBLEM
At a party, 20 people danced. Mary danced with seven
partners, Olga with eight, Vera with nine, and so forth up to
* This proportion is applicable only when the till of the cans i�
thin. This i s hec;:ll1se, strictly spe;1kin � , the ollter and inner surfacos
of cans are lIot similar; what is more, the height of the inside part of
a can is, strictly spealdng, different from the height of the can itseH.

72
Nina who danced with all the partners. How many men
partners were there at the party?
S O LUTION

This is a very simple problem if the unknown is suitably

chosen. Let us seek the number of girls rather than men: the
number of girls is x:
1st, Mary danced wilh 6 + 1 partners,
2nd, Olga danced with 6 + 2 partners,
3rd, Vera danced wilh 6 + 3 partners,
xth, Nina danced wilh 6 +x partners.

We get the following equation,

x + (6 + x) = 20
from which we find that x = 7 and hence that there were
20 - 7 = 1 3 men at the party.

Reconnaissanee at Sea
P[10IlLEM No. 1

A reconnaissance ship of a squadron is given the assign­

ment to reconnoiter a portion of sea out 70 miles in the di­
rection in ,vhich the squadron is moving. The squadron is
moving at 35 miles per hour, the reconnaissance ship is
doing 70 miles an hour. We havo to find out how long it will
tRko the reconnaissance ship to return to the squadron.
S O LUTlON

Denoto that number of hours by x. During this time tho

squadron ndvanced 35x miles and the reconnaissance ship
did 70", miles. Tho reconnaissance ship did 70 milos and
then a certain distance on the retllfll leg of its mission, while
the squadron simply covered the remaining part of its path.
Together, they covered a distance of 70x + 35x, which is
equal to 2 · 70 miles. This gives us an equation
70x + 35x = 140,
whence we get
x = 140 1
105 = 1 3"
hours. The reconnaissance ship will return to the squadron
in 1 hour and 20 minutes.
PllOIJLEM No. 2

A reconnaissance ship was ordered to reconnoiter a portion

of the sea in the direction of motion of the squadron. The
ship was to return to the squadron in three hours. How much
time will elapse before the reconnaissance ship turns around
on the return lap of its mission if it has a speed of 60 knots
and the squadron has a speed of 40 knots?
SOLUTION

Suppose the reconnaissance ship has to turn around after

x hours; this means it moved x hours away from the squadron,
and was on its return mission for a-period of 3 - £hOU1'8.
While all ships were moving in the"same direction, the re­
connaissance ship, in x hours, covered a distance from the
squadron equal to the difference between the distances that
they covered, or a total of
Wx - 40x = 20x.
On the return lap, the reconnaissence ship covered a dis­
tance, returning to the squadron, of 60 (3 - x), whereas the
squadron itself did 40 (3 - x). Together they did 10,�.
And so
60 (3 - x) + 40 (3 - x) = 20x

74
from which we get
1
x=2Z'

This means that the reconnaissance ship has to turn

around 2 hours and 30 minutes after it left the squadron.

At the Cycle Track

PROBLEM
On a circular cycle track there are two cyclists going at
unchanging speeds. When they go in opposite directions
-_ .._-----------,

Fig. 11
they meet every 10 seconds; when they go in the same direc­
tion, one catches up with the other every 170 seconds. Find
the speed of each cyclist if the circular track is 170 metres
long.
75
 S O L UTION

If the speed of one cyclist is x, then in 10 seconds he cov­

ers a distance of iOx metres. If the other cyclist is moving
towards the flrst one, then during the time between meetings
he covers the remaining portion of the circle, or 170 - 10x
metres. If the other cyclist has a speed of y, then he does
10y metres in 10 seconds. We have
170 - 10x = 10y.
Now if the cyclists are following one another, then the
first one does 170x metres in 170 seconds, and the other one
does 170y metres. If the first one is faster than the second
one, he does one complete circle more than the second one
before they meet again. We thus have
170x - 170y = 170.
Simplifying these equtions we get
x + y = 17, x - y = 1
whence
x = 9 , y = 8 (metres per second)

A Competition of Motorcyclists
PROBLEM

In a motorcycle competition, one of three motorcycles that

started out at the same time was doing 15 km less than the
first one and 3 km more than the third, and arrived at the
terminal point 12 minutes after the fIrst machine and 3 min­
utes before the third one. There were no stops en route.
It is required to fmd:
(1) the length of the course,
(2) the speed of each motorcycle,
(3) the time spent en route by each machine.

7(\
 SOLUTION
Although we are seeking seven unknowns, we will solve
the problem by seeking two: we will set up a sy�tem of two
aqua tions in two unknowns.
Denote the speed of the second motorcycle by x. Thon the
speed of the frrst one is x + 15 and of the third x - 3.
The total path length we denote by y. Then the time en
route comes out to
y
x + 15 for the fil'st motorcycle,

x
.!!.. for the second,
"
x-3 for the third.
We know that the second motorcycle took 12 minutes (or
1/5 hour) more to cover the distance than the flrst. And so
1
-; - x + 15 = 5 '
Y Y

The third motorcycle took 3 minutes (or 1/20 hour) more

to cover the whole distance than did the second, and so
we have
x-3 - -;- = 201 '
Y Y

Multiply the second of these equations b y 4 and subtract

from the first to get
'!!" - -" - - 4 ( -Y- - .!!.. ) = 0.
x x+15 x-3 x
Divide all terms of this equation by y (this is a quantity
that is not zero) and then get rid of the denominators. This
yields
(x + 15) (x - 3) - x (x - 3) - 4x (x + 15)
+ 4 (x + 15) (x - 3) = O.

77
Hemoving brackets and collecting terms, we get
3x - 225 = 0
and ftnally
x = 75.
Knowing x, we can find y from tho nrst equation:
JL _ JL _ �
5
=
75 90
or 90.
-

y
So now we have the speeds of the three motorcycles
90, 75, and 72 km per hour.
And the path length is 90 km.
Dividing the path length by the speed of each motorcycle,
we can find tho time en route:
1 hour for the first motorcyclo,
1 h and 1 2 minutes for the second,
1 h and 15 minutes for the third .
We have thus found all the seven unknowns.

AVel'age Speeds
lPIlOBLEM
An automobile covers the distance between two cities at
a speed of 60 km per hour, on the return route the driver
does 40 km an hour. Find the average speed.
SOLUTION

The simplicity of the�; problem is illusive. Without

looking deep into the conditions of the problem, many
just calculate the average (arithmetic mean) between 60
and 40 and get the half sum, or
60 + 40
2
50.

78
 This "simple" solution would be correct if the trip there
and back lasted the same time. But it is clear that the return
trip (at a smaller speed) must have taken a longer time than
the trip thore. Taking that into consideration, we can see
that 50 is not the answer.
True enough, an equation yields a different answer. It is
easy enough to set up an equation if we introduce an auxi­
liary unknown, namely the quantity I for the distance be­
tween the cities. Denoting the sought-for average speed by
x, we get the following equation:
21 1 1
-;- = 60 + 40 '
Since I is not equal to zero, we can divide through by
to get

whence
x
2
= 1 = 48 .
60+40
1

And so the correct answer is 48 and not 50 km an hour.

I! we worked the problem in literal notation (a for the
speed there, and b for the speed on the return trip in kilo­
metres per hour), we would get the equation

�= i.. + i..b
x a

whence for x we would have

2
f l '
.+b
This quantity is known as the harmonic mean between the
quantities a and b.
79
 Thus, the average speed here is not given by the arithme­
tic mean but by the harmonic mean of the speeds. For posi­
tive a and b, the harmonic mean is always less than the
arithmetic moan:
a +-
2
v
-

as we have just seen in the numerical example (48 is less

than 50).

H igh.Speed Computing itIachi�cs

We have been talking about equations and the fun of
setting them up and solving problems. Now we bring com­
puters into the discussion. You already know that computers
have been taught to play chess (and checkers, or draughts,
too). Mathematical machines can also perform such assign­
ments as translating from one language to another (although
the result still leaves much to be desired), the orchestration
of a piece of music, and much more. The only thing required
is to work out a program for the machine to follow.
We will not go into the programs for chess playing or
transla tion from language to language, they are far too
complicated. We will analyse only two very simple pro­
grams. But first a few words are in order about the construc­
tion of a computing machine.
In 8hapter One we spoke of machines that are capable of
performing many thousands (even millions) of operations a
second . The part of the computer that does the actual com­
putations is called the arithmetic unit. Besides that, every
computer contains a control unit that organizes the work of
the whole machine, and also a memory unit (also called a
storage unit). The memory unit is a storage system for stor­
ing numbers' and conventional signals. And, fmaJly, the
computer is equipped with devices for the input of new digi-
80
tal data and for the output of the fmal results. These results
are in the form of a printout (in the decimal number system)
on special cards.
We all know how sound can be recorded on records or on
tape and then reproduced . But the recording of sound can
be done only onco. A now recording requires a fresh disc.
A tape recorder performs this task somewhat differently;
by magnetizing tape. Here the recorded sound can be repro­
duced any number of times and if the recording is no longer
needed, it can be erased and a new recording made in its
place. The same tape may be used for recording many diffe­
rent things, and each time the preceding recording is simply
erased.
A similar principle is used in the memory units of compu­
ters. Electric, magnetic and mechanical signals are used to
record numbers and conventional signals on a special drum,
tape or other device, The recorded number can be "read"
at any timo and if i t is no longer needed, it can be erased
and replaced by another number. The recording (storing)
and reading of numbers or conventional signals takes but
millionths of a second.
Tbe memory of a computer may hold several thousand
storage locations (memory cells), and each location may have
tens of elements (say magnetic elements). I n order to
write numbers in binary (the binary system of notation),
we agree that each magnetized element depicts the digit
1 and each nonmagnetized element depicts the digit O. Sup­
pose each storage location of the memory unit has 25 ele­
ments (or, as it is common to say, 25 binary digits); the
flrst digit of the location denotes the sign of the number
( + or -), the next 14 digits serve to record the integral
part of the number, and the last 1 0 digits record the fraction­
al part of the number. Fig. 12 is a schematic diagram of
two storage locations of the memory unit of a computer;
each has a storage capacity of 25 d igits. The magnetized
elements are indicated by "+" signs, the un magnetized

6-0891 81
eiem"nts by "-" signs. Let us examine the upper storage
location (a dot indicates where the fractional part of A num­
ber begins and a dashed line separates the first digit, which
records the sign of the uumber, from the other digits).
The recorded number reads, in binary, +1011.01 or, in the
ordinary decimal system, 1 1 .25.
Memory locations afO also used to record instructions
(commtmds) that make IIp the program . Let us see what kind
,
,
,
1+1-1 I i-I 1+1-1+1+1 1+1-1 HI

, , ,
.oPeration I I : II I III
j ! I 1-1-1+1+1 H I 1+1+1 t I 1+1+1+1 I 1+1 1+/+1
I i
, ,

Fig. 12

of instructions there are for a so-called three-address compu­

ter. In this case, to record an instruction the storage loca­
tion is divided into 4 parts (indicated by dashed vertical
lines in the lower storage location in Fig. 1 2). The first part
serves to indicate the operation (operations are recorded
in the form of numbers).
For example,
addition - operalion 1 ,
subtraction -operali on 2,
multiplication - operation 3, and so forth.
The instructions are deciphered as follows: the nrst por­
tion of the location indicates the number of tho operation,
the second and third parts indicate the numbers of the stor­
age locations (or addresses) from which numbers must be
82
extracted in order to perlorm the operation, and the fourth
part indicates the number of the location (the address)
which is the destination of the final result. For example,
in Fig. 12 (bottom row) we have, in binary, the numbers
1 1 , 1 1 , 1 1 1 , 101 1 or, in the decimal system, 3, 3, 7, 1 1 ,
which means: perform operation 3 (which is multiplication)
on the numbers in the third and seventh memory locations.
and then record (store) the result in the eleventh location.
From now on we will store the numbers and the instructiolJs
in the decimal system directly and not by means of operation­
al symbols as in Fig. 12. For example, the instruction depict­
ed i n the lower row of Fig. 12 is written thus:
multiplications 3 7 1 1
Let us nOW examine two very simple programs:
Program 1
(1 ) addition 4 5 4
(2) rnultipl ication 4 4 -+
(3) transfer of control 1
(4) 0
(5) 1
Let us see how the computer operates with these data
recorded in the first five storage locations in its memory
unit.
1st instruction: add the numbers in the 4th and .5 th loca­
tions and send the resul t back to the 4th location (in place
of what was recorded there earlier) . Thus the computer
writes the number 0 + 1 = 1 in the 4th location. After the
first instruction has been fullilled, the 4th and 5th loca­
tions have the following numbers:
(4) 1 ,
(5) 1 .

6· 83
 2nd instruction: multiply the number in the 4th 10catioll
b y itself (it is squared) and put the result, or 1' , on a card
(the arrow indicates a printout of the final result).
3rd instruction: transfer of control to the 1st location.
In other words, the instruction "transfer of control" means
that all instructions must again be carried out in order,
beginning with the first. So we again have the 1st instruc­
tion.
1st instruction: add the numbers in the 4th and 5th loca­
tions, and again record tho result in the 4th location. Thus
in the 4th location we have the number 1 + 1 = 2:
(4) 2,
(5) 1.
2nd instruction: square the number in the 4th location
and write out the result, 01' 22 , on a card (the arrow indi­
cates a printout).
Brd instruction: transfer of control to the first location
(which means a transfer to the 1st instruction again).
1st instruction: send the number 2 + 1 = 3 to the 4th
location:
(4) 3,
(5) 1.
2nd instruction: print out the number 32,
3rd instruction: transfer of control to the 1st location and
so on.
We see that the computer computes the squares of the
inteKers and prints them out on a card. Note that it is not
necessary to write in by hand the next new number because
the machine goes through the sequence of integers and
squares each of them. Following that program, the computer
finds the squares of all whole numbers, say, from 1 to
10 000 in the course of a few seconds or even fractions of
a second.

84
 I t must be noted bowever that actually the program
for computing the squares of integers must be somewhat
more complicated than that described above. I n parti­
cular this refers to the second instruction. The point is that
printing the result on a card takes"much more time than com­
puting a single operation. For this reason, the results are
stored in free storage locations of the memory unit and
are then later printed out on cards "at leisure", so to say.
Thus the flrst flnal result is stored in the 1st free location,
the second result in the 2nd location, the third in the 3rd
location, and so on. This was omitted in the description
given above.
Another thing. The computer cannot be engaged for a long
time computing squares because there are not enough loca­
tions in the memory unit; also thero is no way of "guessing"
when the machine has computed enough squares to be able
to turn it off on time (remember the computer does many
thousands of operations per second). To handle this situa"
tion, special instructions are included in the program to stop
the computer at the right time. For example, the program
may state that the computer is to work out the squares of
all numbers from 1 to 1 0 000 and then stop.
There are of course more sophisticated instructions that
we will not go into here so as not to complicate our discus­
sion.
Here i s a real program for fmding the squares of all inte"
gers from 1 to 1 0 000:
Program la
(1) addition 8 9 8
(2) multiplication 8 8 10
(3) addition 2 6 2
(4) conditional jump 8 7 1
(5) stop
(6) 0 0 1
(7) 10 000

85
 (8) 0
(9) 1
(10) 0
(11) 0
(12) 0

The fll'st two instructions don't differ much from those

we had in our simplifwd program. After these two instruc­
tions are handled, the 8th, 9tll and 10th locations will have
the following numbers:
(8) 1
(9) 1
(10) l '

The third instruction is very interesting: the order is to

add the contents of the 2nd and (lth locations and write the
results in the 2nd location, which then looks like this:
(2) multiplication 8 8 1 1 .
After the third instruction i s carried ont, the second instruc­
tion is altered; to put it more exactly, one of the addresses
of the 2nd instruction is changed. We will soon Jearn why
that is done.
Fourth instruction: coaditional jump (or conditional
transfer of control); this is in place of the 3rd instruction
in the earlier p rogram. This instruction is performed thus:
if the number in the 8th location is less than that in the
7th, then control jumps to the 1st locations; otherwise the
next (5th) instruction follows. In our case, 1 < 10 000 and
so the control is transferred to the 1st loeation. So w. again
have the 1st instruction.
After the 1st instruction is carried out, 2 appears in the
8th location.
R(]
 The second instruction will now look like this:
(2) multipl ication 8 8 1 1
and it consists in the number 2' being sent to the 11th
location. It is now clear why the 3rd instruction was carried
out earlier: the now number, that is 22, does not go to tho
10th locntion, which is already occupied, but to lhe next
onc. After instructions one and two have been performed,
we get the following numbers:
(8) 2
(9) 1
(10) l'
(11) 2'
After the third instruction, the second location takes on
the form
(2) multiplication 8 8 1 2
which means the computer i s ready to write the new result
in the next, or 12th, location. Since the 8th location still
has a smaller number than the 9th location, the 4th instruc­
tion is again to transler control to the 1st location.
Now, after carrying instructions Due and two, we get
(8) 3
(9) 1
(10) I'
(11) 2'
(12) 3'
How long will the computer keep finding the squares of
numbers? Until the number 10 000 appears in tlle 8th loca­
tion, which means until all the squares of the numbers from
1 to 10 000 have been found. At this point the 4th instruc­
tion will not transfer control to tbe 1st location (this is b�c
87
cause tho 8th location will havo a number that is not less than
but equal to the number in the 7th location), and after
instruction foul' is carried Dut, the computer will taks up
instruction fIve: stop (tho computer goes off).
Let us now consider a more involved program: the solu­
tion of a system of oquations. We will examino'a simplified
version.j:The reader, if he wishes, can figure out how the
complote program would appear.
Given a system of equations:
r ax + by = c,
I dx + ey = f.
This system can readily be solved as
ce-bt af-cd
X = ae_bd ' Y = ae-bd '
A few tons of soconds and you will probably be able to·solve
this system for speciflOd numerical values of the coofftcionts
a, b, c, d, e, , . Now a computer can work out thousands of
such systems in one second.
Suppose wo have the following program. Given: several
systems of equations:

88
with numerical values of the coefficients a, b, c, d, e, I ,
a', b', . . . .
Here is all appropriate program :
Program 2
(1) X 28 30 20 (14) + 3 19 3 ( 26) a
( 2) X 27 31 21 (15) + 4 194 (27) b
(3) X 26 30 22 (16) + 5 195 (28) c
(4) X 27 29 23 (17 ) + 6 196 (29) d
(5) X 26 31 24 (18)jump 1 (30) e
(6) X 28 29 25 (19) 6 6 0 (31) t
(7) - 20 21 20 ( 20) 0 (32) a'
(8) - 22 23 21 (21) 0 (33) b'
(9) - 24 25 22 (22) 0 (34) c'
(10) : 20 21 -+ (23) 0 (35) d'
( 1 1 ) : 22 21 -+ (24) 0 (36) e'
(12) + 1 19 1 (25) 0 (37) f'
(13) + 2 19 2 (38) a"

1st instruction: form the product of the numbers in the

28th and 30th locations, then send the result to the 20th
location. In other words, in the 20th 10Mtion we get the
number ceo
1nstructions two to six are carried out in a similar fashion.
After the y have been carried out we get the following num­
bers in locations 20 to 25:
(20) ce
(21) bl
(22) ae
(23) bd
(24) at
(25) cd

86
 Seventh instruction: from the number in the 20th location
subtract the number in the 21st location, and again send
the result (ce - bf) to the 20th loca tion.
Instructions eight and nine are carried Ollt similarly.
Thus, in the locations 20,21, 22 we have the following num­
bers:
(20) ce - bt
(21) ae - bd
(22) at - cd
Instructions 10 and 11: the quotients
ce-bf a/-cd
ae bd and ae bd
are formed and are printed out on a card (which means they
are given as a final result). These are the values of the
unknowns obtained from the first system of equations.
Tbe first system bas thus been solved. Why are any further
instructions needed? The next portion of tbe program (loca­
tions 12 to 19) is needed to prepare the computer for solving
the second system of equations. Let us see how this is dOlle.
Instructions 10 to 17 consist in the following: to the con­
tents of locations 1 to 6 we add the material in location 19,
and the results again remain in locations 1 to G. Thus, after
the 17th instruction has been carried out, the first six loca­
tions will look like this:
(1) X 34 36 20
(2) X 33 37 21
(3) X 32 36 22
(4) X 33 35 23
(5) X 32 37 24
(6) X 34 35 25
Instruction 18: transfer of control to location ODO.
In what way do the new notations in the first six locations
differ from the earlier material? In that the first two address-

90
es in these locations have the numbers il:': to 37 instead
of 26 to 31. This means that the computer will again perform
the same operations, hut this time it will take numbers from
locations 32 to 37 (instead of from 26 to 31) where the coef­
ficients of the second system of equations are located. The
computer thus solves the second system of equations, and
then goes On to the third system, and so forth.
From what wo have seen it is clear that the most important
thing is to write a proper program. By itself the computer
is quite helpless and can't do anything. All it can do is car­
ry out a program of instructions. There are programs for
computing roots, logarithms, sines, for solving equations
of high degrees and many more. There are even programs
for playing chess; as wo have SOOll, and for translating from
one language into another, albeit rather poorly. A computer
can do a lot of things, and of course the more complicated
the assignment, the more involved is the program of instruc­
tions.
We conclude with a word about so-called compiling rou­
tines, which are programs by means of which the computer
itself can work out a program for solvi�g some problem.
This greatly simplifies tho writing o[ programs, which can
often be an extremely time-consuming matter.
 Chapter three
AS AN AID '1'0 AIU'I'HM)<;'1'IC

It occasionally happens that arithmetic cannot by it­

self give rigorous proof of certain of its own assertions.
In such cases it has to resort to the generalizing techniques
of algebra. Propositions of this nature that require the help
of algebra include, for example, many of the rules of abridged
operations, the curious properties of certain numbers)
criteria for divisibility of numbers, and so on. This chapter
will be devoted to an examination of a few such problems.

�nstantaneous Multiplieation
.
Calculating prodigies (sometimes called lightning cal­
culators) often simplify their computational work by resort­
ing to simple algebraic manipulations. For example,'to
square H88 one does as follows:
988 988 = (988 + 12) . (988 - 12) + 12'
= 1000·976 + 144 = 976 144
It is easy to see that the calculator here made use of the
familiar algebraic rule
� = � - � + � = � + � � - b) + b�
We can make good use of this rule in oral?:calculations.
For example,
27' = (27 + 3) (27 - 3) + 3; = 729,
63' = 66 ·60 + 3' =�3969,

92
 18' = 20 · 16 + 2' = 324,
37' = 40 ·34 + 3' = 1369,
48' = 50 . 46 + 22 = 2304,
54' = 58 · 50 + 4' = 2916.

To multiply 986 by 997, we do as follows:

986 ·997 = (986 - 3) · 1 000 + 3 · 14 = 983 042.

What is this device based on? Write the factors as

(1000 - 14) ·(1000-3)

and then multiply the two binomials by the rules of algebra:

1000· 1000- 1000· 14 - 1000· 3 + 1 4 3

Anu now a few more manipulations give us

1000 (1000-14) - 1000 . 3 + 1 4 · 3
= 1000 · 986 -1000 · 3 + 1 4 · 3

= 1000 (986-3) + 14 · 3

The last line depicts the device that the calculator uses.
Here is a nice way of multiplying two three-digit numbers
in which the number of tons is tho sarno, whereas the sum
of the units digits comes to 10. For example, to multiply
783 · 787
do as follows:
78 · 79 = 6162, 3 · 7 = 21
to get
616 221 .

93
 The reasoning behind this procedure becomes clear from
the following manipulations:
(780 + 3) (780 + 7)
� 780 · 780 + 780 · 3 + 780 · 7 + 3 · 7
� 780· 780 + 780 · 1 0 + 3 · 7
� 780 (780 + 10) + 3 · 7 780 , 790 + 21
�

= G1G 200 + 21.

Another technique used in snch multiplications is still
simpler:
783· 787 = (785 - 2) (785 + 2) = 785' - 4 = 6i6 225 - 4
� 616 221.
In this example, we had to 'quare the number 785.
Here is a fast way to square numbers ending in 5:
35'; 3·4 = 12. Answer: 1225.
652; 6 · 7 = 42 . Answer: 4225.
752 ; 7 · 8 � 56. Answer: 5625.
The rule here is to multiply the Lens digit by a number
that equals that digit plus one; then adjoin 25 to the pr od­
uct.
This device is based on the following reasoning. If the
number of tens (tbe tens digit) is a, tben the total number
can be depicted thus:
tOa + 5.
The square of this number (the square of a binomial) is
tOOa' + 100a + 25 = 100 a (a + 1) + 25.
The expression a (a + 1) is the product of the tens digit
by the closest greater number. To multiply n number by
100 and add 25 is the same as adjoining 25 to that number.
94
 This same procedure yields a simple method lor squaring
a number that consisls of a whole number anu } . For
example,
( 3 � ) ' = 3.52 = 12.25 � 12 { ,
( 7 "21 ) ' = 06
" 1
4 , ( 8 "21 ) ' = 72 41 and so on,

The Digits 1, 5 , and 6

You have probably noticed that when multiplying a series
of numbers ending in unity or five we get a number ending
in that same digit. It is not so well known that the same
holds true for the number 6. This means, incidentally, that
any power of a number ending in 6 also ends in 6.
For example, 46' = 2116, 46" = 9 7 336.
This peculiarity of 1, 5, and 6 can be explained algebra­
ically. Let us examine 6.
Numbers ending in 6 may be depicted thus:
10a + 6, 10b + 6 and so on,
where a and b are whole numbers.
The product of two such numbers yields
100ab + 60b + 60a + 36
= 10 (10ab + 6b + 6a) + 30 + 6
= 10(10ab + 6b + 60 + 3) + 6.

So we sec that the product is made up of a certain number

of tens,and the number 6, which, quite naturall y, appears
at the end.
The same type of proof can be applied to the numbers 1
and 5.

95
 The foregoing permits us to assert that
3862567 ends in 6,
81572:1 ends in 5,
491 1 7 3 2 ends in 1, and so forth.

'1'he Numbers 25 and 76

Now there are two-digit numbers that have the same

property as 1 , 5, and 6 . They include the number 25 and­
most likely a surprise to most readers-the number 76.
Any two numbers ending in 76 yield a product that also
ends in 76.
Let us prove this fact. The general expression for such
numbers is
100a + 76, 100b + 76, and so on.
We now multiply together two such numbers to get
10 OOOab + 7 600b + 7 600a + 5776
� 10 OOOab + 7 600b + 7 600a + 5 700 + 76
� 100 (100ab + 76b + 76a + 57) + 76.

The proposition is established: the product will end in

the number 76.
From this it follows that any power of a number ending
in 76 will be a number ending in 76:
376' � 141 376, 576' � 191 102 976, and so forth.

Infinite "Numbers"
There are also longer strings of digits that appear at the
end of certain numbers and again appear in their product.
We will now show that there are an infmity of such strings
of numbers.
96
 We know two-digit strings (groups) of digits that have
this property: 25 and 76 . To n.ud three-digit groups, adjoin
in front of 25 or 76 a digit such that the resulting three­
digit group of digits has the required property.
What digit should we adjoin to the number 76? Let us
denote it by k. Then the desired throe-digit numLer is
100k + 76.
The general expression for numbers ending in this group of
digits is:
1000a - i- 100k + 76, 1000b + 100k + 76 and so on.
Let us multiply together two numbers of this type. We get
1 000 OOOab + 100 OOOak + 100 OOObk + 76 OOOa
+ 76 OOOb + 10 OOOk' + 15 200k + .5 776.
All terms except the last two end in at least three zeros.
For thi s reason the product ends in 100k + 76 if the differ­
ence
15 200k + 5 776 - (1 00k + 76) = 15 1 00k + 5700
= 15 OOOk + 5000 + 100(k + 7)

is divisible b y 1000. Ol'viously this will occur only when

k = 3.
So the sought-for group of digits is of the form 376, which
means that any power of 376 will end in 376. An example is
376' = 141 376.
If we now want to fmd a four-digit string of digits with
the same property, we have to adjoin another digit in front
of 376. Denote it by I and we have the following problem:
for what I will the product
(10 OOOa + 1 0001 + 376) ( 1 0 OOOb + 10001 + 376)

7-0891 97
 end in 10001 + 376? If we remove the,brackets in this prod­
uct and discard all terms endi ng in four zeros and more,
then we get the terms
752 0001 + 141 376.
The prod,.ct ends in 10001 + 376 if the difference
752 0001 + 141 376 - (10001 + 376)
= 7.5 1 0001 + 'l41 000

= (750 0001 + 140 000) + 1000 (l + 1)

is divisible by 10 000. This is obviously tl,e case only

when I = 9.
And so the sought-for four-digit group is 9376.
To this four-digit group we can adjoin another digit by
following -the reasoning given above. And we get 09 376.
Taking another step, we fmd the group of digits 109 376,
then 7 109 376, and so on.
This adjoining of digits on tile left can be continued
indefmiLely. It yields a number with an infinite number
of digits:
. . . 7 109 376.
Such "numbers" can be added and multiplied by the usual
rules; this is because ) hey are written fromJight to left
and, as we know, addition and multiplication by columns
is also performed from right to left so that in the sum and
the product of two such numbers we can compute one digit
after another for as many digits as we desire.
It is rather surprising to find that the above infinite
"number" satisfies tho equation
x2 = X.

I ndeed, the square of this "number" (the product of the

number into itself) ends in 76 since each factor ends in 76;
for the sarno reason, the square of the VvTitten «number"
98
ends in 376; it ends in 9376, and so on. In other word.• , as
we compute one digit after :another in the «number" X2,
where x = . . . 7 109 376, we will get the same digits as we
have in x, so that x� = x.
We considered groups of digits that end in 76 * If simil ar
reasoning is carried out with respect to groups of digits
ending in 5, we get the following digit groups:
5, 25, 625, 0625, 90 625, 890 625, 2 890 625 and so on.

This enables us to write down another infinite "number"

. . . 2 890 625

that likewise satisfies the equation x' = x. It may be shown

that this infinite "number" is equal, as it wero, to

J n the language of infinite "numbers" this interesting

result can be stated thus: the equation x2 = x also has
(besides the ordinary solutions x = O and x = 1) two "infi­
nite" solutions
x = ... 7 109 376 and x = . . . 2 890 625

and no other solutions (in the decimal system of notation). **

>11 Note that the two-digit group 76 may be found via reasoni ng
similar to that given above: all one needs to do is fin d the digi t to be
adjoined on the left to the digi t 6 so that the resulting twcrdi git group
has the desired propert y. Therefore, the "n umber" .,_ 7 109 376 can be
obtained by adjoining d i� its to 6 on the left on c aftcr another.
** Infin ite "n umbers' may also be considered in systems of n ume­
rati on other than the deci mal system. Numbers considered in a sys­
tem of numerati on wi th base p are termed p-adie numbers .

,. 99
 Allditional Payment
A PROBLEM OF F O L K L O H E

In days of old , two cattle dealers sold a herd of oxen and

received as many rubles for each ox as there wore oxen in
the herd. They then spent this money to buy a herd of sheep
at 10 rubles apiece and one lamb. They divided the lot
in half and one got an extra sheep and the other took the
lamb and received from his companion a certain sum of
money. How much did this additional payment come to
(it is assumed that it came to a whole number of rubles)?
SOLUTION

This problem is not amenable to immediate translation

into the language of algebra, and no equation can be set
up for it. So one has to rely on a sort of free-wheeling mathe­
matical reasoning. But algebra gives arithmetic a helping
hand here too.
The price of the herd in rubles is a perfect square since
the herd was acquired with money obtained from the sale
of n oxen at n rubles per ox. One of the two dealers got an
extra sheep, which makes the number of sheep odd; also,
for this reason, the number of tens in n' is odd. What is
the units digit?
It can be shown that if in a perfect square the tens digit
is odd, then the units digit in that number can only be 6.
True enough, for the square of any number made up of
a tens and b unit" or (10a + b)', is
100a' + 20ab + b' � (10a' + 2ab) ·10 + b'.
There are 10a' + 2ab tens in this number, and then there
are some tens in b'. But 10a' + 2ab is divisible by 2 and
so is an even number. Therefore the number of tens in
(lOa + b) ' will be odd only if there turns out to be an odd
number of tens in b'. Now recall what b' is. This is the
100
 square of the units digit, which means it is one of the fol­
lowing 10 numbers:
0, 1, 4, 9 , 16, 25, 36, 49, 64, 81.
Of these, only t6 and 36 (both ending in 6) have an odd
number of tens, which moans tho perfect square
tOOa' + 20ab + b'
can have an odd number of tens only if it ends in 6.
It is now easy to find the answer to our problem. It is
clear that the lamb went for 6 rubles. Hence the dealer that
got the lamb received 4 rubles less than the other one. To
make the shares equal, the owner of the lamb is due 2 rubles
from his partner.
The additional payment is thus 2 rubles.

Divisibility by 11

Algebra is a great help in finding criteria for the divisibil­

ity of a number by some divisor without performing the
division. The criteria of divisibility by 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9,
and 10 are well known. Let us examine divisibility by 11;
it is rather simple and of practical value.
Suppose a multidigit number N has a units, b tens, e
hundreds, d thousands, and so on, or
N = a + tOb + tOOe + tOOOd + . . .
=a + to(b + 10e + tOOd+ . ), . .

where the dots stand for the sum of higher orders. From
N we subtract the number l1(b + 10e + toOd + . . . ),
which is a multiple of tt. Then the resulting difference,
which is readily seen to be equal to
a - b - to (e + tOd + . . . ),

t01
will have the same remainder upon d ivision b y 1 1 as the
number N. Adding to this difference the number 11 (c +
+ 10d + . . . ), wbich is divisible by 1 1 , we get the number
a - b + c + 10(d + . . . ) ,
whicb also has the same remainder upon division by 11 as
N. From it we subtract tbe number 11(d + . . . ), wbich is
divisible by 11, and so on. We finally get
a - b + c - d + . . . = (a + c + . . . ) - (b + d + . . . ).
This number has the same remainder after dividing b y
1 1 as does the original number N.
From this we get the following criterion for divisibility
by 1 1 : from the sum of all digits in odd sites, subtract tbe
sum of all digits standing in even sites; if the difference
is 0 or a number (positive or negative) divisible b y 1 1 ,
then the number being tested i s a multiple of 1 1 ; otherwise,
our number is not exactly divisible by 1 1 .
Let u s test the number 8 7 635 064:
8 + 6 + 5 + 6 = 25,
7 + 3 + 0 + 4 = 14,
25 - 14 = 11.
Thus, the given number is d ivisible by 11.
There is another procedure for determining divisibility
by 11 which is convenient for numbers that are not very
long. It consists in the number under test being split from
right to left into groups (or blocks) of two digits each and
then the groups being added. If the resulting sum is exactly
divisible by 1 1 , then the original number is a multiple
of 11, otherwise it is not. Suppose we want,to test the number
528. Didding it into the appropriate groups of two (5/28)
and adding the groups, we get
5 + 28 = 33.

102
 Since 33 is exactly divisible by 1 1, so also is the number
528:
528 : 1 1 = 48.
We now prove tbis criterion of divisibility. Split a multi­
digit number N into groups of digits. We obtain two­
digit (or one-digit *J numbers which we designate from
right to left as a, b, c, and so on I so that the number N can
be written as
N = a + 100b + 10 OOOe + . . . = a + 100(b + 100e + .. . ).
Subtract from N the number gg (b + 100e + . . . ) , which.
is divisible by 1 1 . The resulting number
a + (b + 100e + . . . ) = a + b + 100 (e + . . . )
will have the same remainder, when divided by 1 1 , as the
number N. From this number we. subtract 99 (c + . . . ) ,
which is divisible by 11, and so on. Finally, we find that the
number N has the same remainder upon division b y " 1 1 as
the number

A License Number
PROBLEM
Three students of mathematics out for a stroll noticed
a car break the traffic regulations. Not one of the students
noticed the number on the license plate (it was a four-digit
number). but, being mathematicians, they noticed some
peculiarities about the number. One recalled tbat the first
two digits were the same. A second recalled that the last
two digits were also alike. And finally the third student
* If the number N had an odd number of di gits, the last (leftmost)
group will be a onc-digit block. Besides, a block of the form 03 sh o uld
also be regarded as a one-digit number 3 .

103
maintained that the four-digit number was a perfect square.
Is this information enough to find out the number on the
license plate?
SOLUTION
Denote the first (and second) digit of the desired number
by a, the third (and fourth) by b. Then we have the number
1000a + 100a + lOb H � 1100a + 1 1 b � 11 (100a + b).
This number is divisible by 1 1 and so, being a perfect square,
is also divisible by 11'. Wbich means the number 100a +
+ b is divisible by 1 1 . Using either one of the two earlier
devised criteria for divisibility by 11, we find that 1 1 di­
vides the number a + b. And this means that
a + b � 11
since each of the digits a, b is less than ten.
The last digit b of the number, which is a perfect square,
can assumo only the values
0, 1, 4, 5, 6 , 9.
And so for the digit a, which is equal to 1 1 - b, we get
the following possible values:
1 1 , 10, 7, 6, 5, 2.
The flfSt two are unsuitable and that leaves us the following
possibilities:
b = 4, a = 7;
b � 5 , a � 6;
b � 6 , a � 5;
b � 9, a � 2 .
We see that the license number can ollly be one of the fol­
lOWing four:
7744, 6655, 55G6, 2299.

104
But the last three of these numbers are not perfect squares:
the number 6655 is divisible by 5 but not by 25; tbe number
5566 is divisible by 2 bu t not by 4; the number 2299 =
= 121 ·19 is not a square either. That leaves only one num­
ber, 7744 = 88', which is the solution.

ntvlsibility by 19

Justify the following criterion lor divisibility by 19.

A number is divisible by 19 if and only if the number of
tens added to twice the number of units is divisible by 19.
SOLUTION

Any number N may be expressed as

N = 10x + y
where x is the number of tens (not the tens digit but the
total number of integral tens in the whole number) , and
y is the units digit. We have to show that N is divisible by
19 if and only if
N' = x + 2y
is a multiple of 19. To do this, multiply N' by 10 and sub­
tract N from the product to get
iON' - N = 10 (x + 2y) (iOx + y) = 19y.
-

From this it is clear that if N' is a m1lltiple of 19, then

N = iON' 19y-

is exactly div isible by 19; and conversely, if N is exactly

divisible by 19, then
iON' = N + 19y
is a multiple of 1 9 and then, quite obviously, N' too is
exactly divisible by 19.
105
 Suppose we have to determine whether 19 divides the
number 47 045 881 or not.
Apply our divisibility criterion in succession:

4 704588 1 1
+2·
47045 1 UO
+ 18
47 06 1 3
+6
471 1 2
+4
47 1 5
+ 10
5T7
+ 14
19.

Since 19 is exactly divisible by 19, it follows that so also

are the n11mbers 57, 475, 4712, 47 063, 470 459, 4 704 590,
47 045 88t.
So the original number is indeed divisible by 19.

A TheOl'em of Sophie Germain

Here is a problem posed by the eminent French melhema­

Ucian Sophie Germain.
Prove that every number of the form a' + 4 is a composite
number (provided a is not eq:Jal to 1).
106
 SOLUTION

The proof follows from the transformations

a' + 4 = a' + 4a2 + 4 - 4a' = (a' + 2)' - 4a' =
= (a' + 2)' - (2a)' = (a' + 2 - 2a) (a' + 2 + 2a).
It will be seen that the number a' + 4 may be expressed
as a product of two factors that are not equal to the number
itself or to unity *; ill other words, the number is composite.

Composite Numbe.'s
There are an infinity of the so-called primes (prime
numbers) , which are integers exceeding unity that canDot
be divided b y any whole number other than unity and the
integer itself.
The sequence of primes begins 2, 3, 5, 7, 1 1 , 13, 17, 19,
23, 29, 31, . . . , and, as the dots indicate, extends indefini­
tely. These primes interpose tllemselves in the range of
composite numbers,. and split the natural-number sequence
into more or less extended portions of composite numbers.
How long are these portions? For example, can we find
a sequence of, say, a thousand composite numbers with not
a single prime among them?
It can be proved, although this may seem improbable,
that straight strings of composite numbers between primes
may be of any imaginable length. There is no bound to
the length of such strings: they may consist of a thousan d ,
a million, a trillion and so on composite numbers.
For the sake of convenience, we will make use of the
symbol n!, which stands for the product of all numbers from
1 to n inclusive. For instance, 51 = 1 · 2 · 3 ·4 ·5. We will

• Unity, because a2 - 2a = (a2 - 2a -I- 1) (a - 1)2 +

oF 1, if a oF 1 .
+2 + 1 =

+1

107
now prove that the sequence
[(n + i)l + 2 1 , [(n + i)l + 31, [(n + i)l + 4] ,
up to [(n + i)l + n + il inclusive
consists of n successive composite numbers.
These numbers follow one another in the sequence of the
natural numbers since each succeeding onO is 1 greater
than the preceding number. It now remains to prove that
they are composite.
The first number
(n + 1) I + 2 = 1 ·2 ·3 ·4 · 5 ·6 ·7 · . . . . (n + i) + 2
is evon since both terms contain the factor 2. Now, every
eVOn number greater than 2 is a composite number.
The second number
(n + 1) 1 + 3 = 1 . 2 · 3 ·4 · 5 · . . . . (n + 1) + 3
consists of two terms, each of which is a multiple of 3.
Hence, this number too is composite.
The third number
(n + 1) 1 + 4 = 1 ·2 ·3 ·4 ·5 · . . . . (n + 1) + 4
is exactly divisible b y 4 because it consists of terms that
are multiples of 4.
In similar fashion. we find that the number
(n + 1)1 + 5
is a multiple of 5. and so forth. In other words. each number
of our sequence contains a factor that is different from unity
and from itself; which means it is a composite number.
If you want to write, say, five composite numbers in
succession, all you need to do is substitute 5 for n in the
sequence given above. Yon will then get the following se­
quence:
722, 723. 724, 725, 726.

108
This is not the only sequence made up of five composite
numbers. There are other sequences, such as
62, 63, 64, 65, 66.
Or take the smaller numbers
24, 25, 26, 27, 28.
Let us now try to solve the following problem.
Vvrite down a sequence of ten composite numbers.
SOLUTION

Proceed On what has been said. We establish the fact

that for the first of the desired ten numbers we can take
1 ·2 ·3 ·4 · . . . ·10 · 1 1 + 2 = 39 816 802.
The desired sequence may then look like this:
39 816 802, 39 816 803, 39 816 804 and so on.
There are however sequences of much smaller composite
numbers. For instance, there is a sequence of thirteen com­
posite numb ers already in tho second hundred:
114, 115, 116, 117 and so on up to 126 inclusive.

The Numhel' of Pl'imes

The existence of arbitrarily long sequences of composite
numbers may seem to suggest that the sequence of primes
cannot be continued indefinitely. The following proof of
tho infinitude of prime numbers will clarify this doubt.
The proof belongs to the ancient Greek mathematician
Euclid and may be found in his Elements. The proof given
there is one known as indirect proof, or reductio ad absur­
dum proof. Suppose the sequence of primes is finite; denote
the last prime in the sequence by N. Then form the product
1 ·2 ·3 ·4 · 5 · 6 ·7 · . . . ·N = NI

109
and add unity. This gives us
NI + 1.
Since this is an integer I it must contain at least onO prime
factor. which means it must be divisible by at least one
prime. But. by hypothesis. the sequence of primes does not
exceed N. yet the number NI + 1 cannot be exactly divid­
ed by any number less than or equal to N. for every time
we obtain a remainder of 1 .
Thus, w e cannot assume that the sequence of primes is
finite: the assumption leads to a contradiction, and this
means that no matter how extended the string of composite
numbers in the sequence of natural numbers, we may rest
assured that at the end of the sequence we will encounter an
infinity of primes.

Thc Largest Prime Discovered So Far

It is one thing to be convinced of the existence of arbitra­
rily large prime numbers and quite a different thing to know
exactly what numbers are prime. The larger the natural
number, the greater the amount of computation that has
to be performed in order to find out whether it is prime
or not. The following number is the largest known prime
to date:
22281 - 1 .

It has about seven hundred digits and a powerful modern

computer was used to perform the necessary computations.
(See Chapters 1 , 2.)

A Res ponsible Calculation

Mathematical calculations sometimes involve such unwiel­
dy arithmetic that only algebraic methods can save the
situation. Suppose we want to find the result of the fol-
1 10
 lowing operations;
2

1+ 90 000 000000

A word of explana tion: this com pu tation is necessat'y to

find out whether engineers who deal with velooities of bodies
that are small compared to the speed of propagation of
electromagnetic wa ves can make use of the familiar law of
composition of velocities without taking into account the
changes brought about by the mechanics of relativity
theory. In classical mechanics, a body participating in two
motions in the same direction with velocities VI and V'l
kilometres per second has a velocity of (VI + v2 ) kilometres
a second. Now the new mechanics gives the velocity of the
body as
Vi + Vz
kilometres per second.
1+ V1V2
c·

where c is the velocity of light in a vacuum (it is equal

approximately to 300 000 kilometres a second). To take
an example, the velocity of a body taking part in two moLions
in the same direction, each with a velocity of one kilometre
per second, comes out, via the old classical mechanics, to
two kilometres per second, and via the new mechanics, to
2
kilometres per second,
1 + 90 000tODO 000
By how much do these results differ? Is the difference such
that it can be detected by extremely sensitive instruments?
That is precisely why we have to perform this calculation.
We will carry it out in two ways: first in the usual way,
arithmetically, and then by means of algebraic procedures.
A mere glance at the long rows of figures in the arithmetic
approach convinces us of the undollbted advantages of algebra.
111
 To begin with, we manipulate our double-d ecker fraction
into better shape:
2 180 000 000 000
1 m 000 000 OOi
90 000 000
•

1+
000
We now carry out the division of the numerator by the
denominator:
1 80 000 000 000 I gO 000 000 001
90 000 000 001 1.999 999 099 977 . . .
899 999 999 990
810 000 000 009
899 999 990 810
8 1 0 000 000 009
899 ggg g9S 010
810 000 000 009
899 ggg 980 01 0
810 000 000009
899 999 800 010
810 000 000 009
899 998 OOU 01 U
810 000 000 009
899 980 OUU 01 U
81 0 000 000 009
899 800 UOU UW
810 000 000 009
898 UUO OUU 010
810 000 000 009
88U UUO OUU 01 0
8 1 0 000 000 009
700 UOO UOU 01U
630 000 000 007
70 UOO 000 003

H2
 This is clearly a monotonous, gruelling task where errors
can crop up at any stage. Yet it is important when solving
this problem to note the exact point at which the sequence
of nines is broken and a different sequence of digits sets in.
N ow notice how easily algebra handles the situation.
It makes use of the following approximate equality: if
a is an extremely small fraction, then

1
� 1 -a
I+a
--

where the symbol ,,; stands for "approximately equal to".

It is very easy to see that this assertion holds true: compare
the dividend 1 with the product of the divisor by the quo­
tient:
1 � (1 + a) (1- a)
or
1 � 1 - a' .

Since a is a very small fraction (for example, 0.001), it is

clear that a' is a still smaller fraction (0.000001) which can
be disregarded.
Now let us apply the above to our calculation: *
2 2
1 1
1 1+
+ 90 000000 000 9 . 1 0"
,,; 2 (1 - 0. 1 1 1 . . . · 1 0-1O) � 2 - 0.0000000000222 . . .
� 1 . 9999999999777 . . . .
The result is the same as we obtained earlier, but the
computation is a much shorter one.
The reader is probably curious to learn of what signifi­
cance this result is in the problem of mechanics posed above.
* We now make use of the approximate equality
A
", A (I-a).
I+a

8-0891 113
It shows that due to the smallness of the velocities under
consideration as compared with the velocity of light, it is
hardly possible to detect any departure from the old law of
compo�ition of velocities. Even with such groat velocities as
one kilometre per second, a difference shows up only in the
11th digit of the number being determined (in ordinary
engineering calculations, one confines himself to 4 to 6
digits). We Can therefore state very definitely that the new
Einsteinian mechanics practically changes nothing in engi­
neering calculations that deal with the "slow" (compared
with the velocity of light) bodies. There is, however, a field
of modern life where this conclusion calls for caution. It
is the field of space flight. Today artificial satellites and
space vehicles have reached velocities of the order of
10 km/s. Here the discrepancy between classical and Ein­
steinian mechanics appears in the ninth digit. And there
are higher velocities in the oiling . . . .

When It's Easier Without Algebra

Along with cases where algebra is a great aid to arithme­
tic, there are other cases where it merely complicates mat­
ters. A true knowledge of mathematics consists in the
ability to deal with mathematical tools so as always to take
the straightest and most reliable path, irrespective of
whether the procedure is taken from arithmetic, algebra,
geometry, or any other branch. It will be useful therefore
to examine a case where resorting to algebra can only cou­
fuse the solver. The following is an instructive example
of such a problem.
Find the smallest of all numbers which when divided
by 2 yield a remai nder of 1
by 3 yield a remainder of 2
by 4 yield a remainder of 3

114
 by 5 yield a remainder of 4
by 6 yield a remainder 01 5
by 7 yield a remainder oX 6
by 8 yield a romainder of 7
by 9 yield a remainder of 8
SOLU TION

J was asked to work out tbis problem with the words:

�'How would you go about solving it? There are too many
equations; it's easy to get all mixed up."
Tbe trick is simply this: no equations, no algebra-it
can be handled very neatly by a simple arithmetical piece
of reasoning.
Add one to the desired number. Then what remainder
does it yield when divided by 2? The remainder is 1 + 1 =
= 2; it is exactly divisible by 2.

In the same way, it is exactly divisible by 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8,

and by 9. The smallest of such numbers is 9 · 8 · 7 · 5 =
= 2520, and the sought-for number is equal to 2519. This
can b e tested immediately.
 Chapter four
DIOPHANTINE EQUATIONS

Buyiug a Sweatm'
PROBLEM
You have to pay 19 rubles for a sweater. All you have
on you are three-ruble bills and the cashier only has five­
ruble bills. How can you pay for the sweater? Or maybe
you can't?
The question comes down to this: how many three-ruble
bills do you have to give to the cashier to pay 19 rubles
and receive change from the cashier in the form of five­
ruble bills. There are two unknowns in this problem: the
number x of three-ruble bills and the number y of five­
ruble bills. But there is only one equation that can be set up;
3x - 5y = 19.
Although one equation in two unknowns has an infinity
of solutions, it is not at all obvious that there is even one
among them that has integral positive values of x and
y (recall that these are the numbers of bills). That is why
algebra has worked out a method for solving such indetermi­
nate equations. The credit for introducing them into algebra
belongs to the first European representative of that science,
the eminent mathematician of antiquity Diophantus, whence
the term D iophantine equations.
SOLUTiON
We will use the above example to show how such indeter­
minate equations are solved.
We have to find the values of x and y in the equation
3x - 5y = 19
knowing that x and y are positive integers (whole numbers).
116
 First we isolate the unknown with the smallest coeffi­
cient, the term 3x, and get
3x � 19 + 5y
whence
1 9 + 5y 6 1 + 2y
x� 3
+y+ 3 '
6
Since x, and y are integers, the equation can only hold
true if 3- is a whole number as well. Let us denote it
l-I-2y
-

by t. Then

where

and, hence,
3/ � 1 + 2y, 2y � 3t - 1.
From the latter equation we can determine y:
3t-1 !oil t-1
2- '
2 = /+ -
y � --
Since y and / are integers, it follows that '-;-1 must like-
wise be some whole number /,_ Consequently,
y � / + I,
and
'- 1
tl � -2-
whence
2/, = t - 1 and t � 2/, + 1.
Put the value / = 2t, + 1 into the preceding equations:
y � / + /, � (2/, + 1 ) + /, = 3/, + 1 ,
x = 6 + y + / � 6 + (31, + 1 ) + (2/, + 1) = 8 + 51,.

117
And so for x and y we have found the expressions •

x = 8 + 5tv
Y = 1 + 3t,.
Now we know that the numbers x and y are not only
integers but are also positive, or greater than 0. Consequently,
8 + 5t, > 0,
1 + 3t, > 0.
From these inequalities we find
5t, > - 8 and
3t, > - 1 and
Such are the restrictions on t,: it is greater than -1/3
(and, hence, all the more so greater than -8/5). But since
t, is a whole number, we conclude that it can be only one
of the following values:
� = 0, 1 , 2, 3, 4, , . . .

The corresponding values for x and y are:

x = 8 + 5t, = 8, 13, 18, 23, ' . .,
y = 1 + 3t, = 1 , 4, 7, 10, . • . •

Now at last we have a way of finding out how the payment

is to be made:
Either you pay with 8 three-ruble bills and in return
receive one five-ruble bill,
8 . 3 - 5 = 19,
•
= 19 is of the form x = 8 + 511, Y = 1 +
Strictl�' speaking, we have only proved that any integer solution
5r1
-\- 3t1, where tl is some 'integer. The converse (that is, that for any in­
of the equation 3x -

teger t1 we obtain some integral solution to the given equation) has

not been proved. However, this is easy to sec if we reason backwards,
so to say, or if we substitute the obtained values of % and y into the
original equation .

1 18
or you pay 1 3 three-ruble bills and receive 4 five-ruble
bills:
13.3 - 4·5 � 19,
and so on.
Theoretically, the problem has an infinity of solutions,
but in practical situations the number of solutions is limit­
ed because neither the buyer nor the cashier has an infinity
of bills. For instance, if each has 10 bills, the payment can
be made in only one way: by paying 8 three-ruble bills and
getting 5 rubles in return. We have thus seen that ind eter­
minate equations are capable of yielding quite d efinite
pairs of solutions in practical problems.
Returning to our problem, we suggest that the reader,
as an exercise, work out a variant in which the buyer has
only five-ruble bills and the cashier only three-ruble bills.
We then get the following series of solutions:
x � 5, 8, 1 1 ,
Y � 2, 7 , 12, . . . .
Indeed,
5·5 - 2.3 � 19,
8·5 - 7·3 � 19,

11 · 0 - 1 2 . 3 � 19.

We could obtain these results also from the solution to

the main problem by taking advantage of a simple algebraic
device. Since giving five-ruble bills and receiving three­
ruble bills is the same as receiving negative five-ruble
bills and giving negative three-ruble bills, the new version
of the problem is solved by means of the same equation that
we set up for the main problem:
3x - 5y � 19,
provided, however, that x Gnd y are negative numbers.
Therefore, from the equations
x = 8 + 51" y � 1 + 3t,1

119
we find (knowing that x < 0 and y < 0)
8 + 511 < 0, 1 + 311 < 0
and, hence,
8
1' < - 5'

Assuming 11 = -2, -3, -4 and so forth, we obtain the

following values for x and y from the preceding formulas:
11 = - 2, -3, -4,
x = -2, -7, -12 ,
y = -5, -8, -11.
The first two solutions, x = -2, Y = -5 signify that
the buyer pays minus 2 three-ruble bills and receives minus
5 five-ruble bills, or, translated into normal language , he
pays 5 five-ruble bills and receives in return 2 three-ruble
bills. The same interpretation is applied to the other solu­
tions.

Auditing Accounts
PROBLEM

I n auditing the books of a shop, the auditor found that

one of the entries was partially blotted out with ink spots
and looked like this:

901"
fi'ie:ze
Jl'mdf'?.5 tJ/
at .f9r. 36'£. a m?tf'/!

120
 The number of metres sold was blotted out, but obviously
it was not in the form of a fraction; the sum of money re­
ceived was also partially blotted with only the last three
digits distinguishable, and it also was evident that there
were three preceding figures.
Was it possible for the auditors to recover the original
figures from those distinguishable in the entry?
SOLUTION

Let us denote the number of metres by x. The 80m of

money received for the goods then comes to (in kopecks)
4936x.
Denote by y the number expressed by the three blotted­
out figures in the entry of the total sum of money. This is
obviously the number of thousands of kopecks, while the
whole sum in kopecks looks like this:
fOOOy + 728.
And so we have the equation
4936x � 1000y + 728
or, dividing through by 8,
617x - 125y � 91.
I n this equation, x and y are whole numbers and y does
not exceed 999 since there can only be three figures. Now
we solve the equation as indicated above:
125y = 617x - 91,
y � 5x - 1 + 3�;8x 5x - 1 + 2 ( 1�;;4x) 5x- 1 + 2t.
Hore 8
we- assumed 6121 75 = 5 - 12 5 b ecause' It
" IS b est f or us
to have as small a remainder as possible. The fraction
2 ( 17-4x)
125

121
is a whole number and since 2 cannot ·be divided by 125,
.
It follows that 17-4x
125 must be a whole number, which we
denote by I.
Then from the equation
t
17 --4x
----rzs =
we get
17 - 4x = 1251,

x = 4 - 31t + 1�' = 4 - 311 + 1 ,

.,

where
1 -'
/' = -4-
and, hence,
411 = 1 - I,

1 = 1 - 411,
X = 1251, - 27,
y = 61711 - 134".
We know that
100 <; y < toDD.
Consequently,
100 <; 6171, - 134 < toDD
and from this we have

• Note that the coefficients of tJ are equal to the coefficients of x

and y in the original equation: 617x - 12511 = 91, and the sign is
reversed with respect to onc of the coeffici ents of tl, This is no acci­
dent, in fact it may be demonstrated that that is exactly what should
occur every time if the coefficients of x and y are relatively prime
numbers.

122
 It is clear that t, can have only one integral value:
I, = 1
and then
x = 98, Y = 483,

which means that 98 metres were sold for a total of 4837

rubles and 28 kopecks. Thus the entry was restored.

Buying Stamps
PROBLEM

With one ruble it is required to buy 40 stamps in all:

one-kopeck, 4-kopeck and 12-kopeck stamps. How many
will there be of each denomination?
SOLUTION

Here we have two equations in three unknowns:

x + 4y + 12z = 100,

x+ y + z = 40,
where x is the number of one-kopeck stamps, y is the number
of 4-kopeck stamps, and z the number of 12-kopeck stamps.
Subtracting the second equation from the first, we get
one equation in two unknowns:
3y + 11z = 60.
We find y to be
y = 20 - 1 1 . ; .
Clearly, ' is a whole number. Denote it by t. Then we
;r
have
y = 20 - f 1 t,
z = 3t.

123
 Substituting the expressions for y and z into the second
of the original equations, we get
x + 20 - 11t + 3t = 40
and
x = 20 + St.

Since x > 0, y > 0 and z > 0 , it is easy to see that t has

the following bounds:
91
O -<: t -<: 1 11 _
and from this we conclude that t can have only two integral
values:
t = 0 and t = 1 .
The values o f x, y and z are then.

t=
1 0 1 1
Check

X= 1 20 1 28 20 · 1 + 20 · 4 + 0 · 1 2 = 100,
28 . 1 + 9 · 4+ 3 . 12=100.
Y= 1 20 1 9

Z= 10 1 3

To summariz e, there are only two ways of buying the

stamps (and if the requirement is to buy at least one stamp
of each denomination, then there is only one way to do tha t).
Here is another problem of the same vintage.

Buying Fruit
PROBLEM

Five rubles is used to buy 100 items of different kinds

of fruit. Here are the prices:
124
 y
one water melon 50 kopecks,
one a ple . 10 kopeeks.
one p urn . 1 kopeck.

How many pieces of each type of fruit were bought?

SOLUTION

Denoting the number of water melons by x, the number

of apples by y and plums by z, we can set up two equations:
{
50x + 10y + 1z = 500,
x + Y + z = 100.
Subtracting the second equation from the first, we get One
equation in two unknowns:
49x + 9y = 400.
The solution continues as
400- 49x 4 (I-x)
Y= 44 - 5x + 9
9
I-x
t= -9
-' x = 1 -9t,
Y = 44 - 5(1 - 9t) + 4t = 39 + 49t.
From the inequalities
1 - 9t > 0 and 39 + 49t > 0
we find that
1 39
9�t> -4'9

and, hence, t = O. Therefore,

x
1 , y = 39.
=
Substituting these values of x and y into the second
equation, we get z = 60.
125
 And thus the total purchase amounted to one water
melon, 39 apples and 60 plums.
No other combinations are p ossible.

Guessing a Birthday
PROBLEM

The ability to solve indeterminate equations makes it

possible to perform the following mathematical trick.
Ask a friend to multiply the number of the date of his
birthday by 12, and the number of the month by 31. He
reports the sum of both products and you work out the date
of his birth.
Suppose your friend was born on February the 9th; then
he carries out the following computations:
9 012 = 108, 2 ·31 = 62,
108 + 62 = 170.
This last number, 170, is what he tells you, and then
you work out the date. How?
SOLUTION

The problem reduces to solving the indeterminate equation

12x + 31y = 170
in positive integers; the day of the month x does not exceed
31, and the number of the month y does not exceed 12.
70 3 Y
X= 1 � 1 14- 3y + 2t5y = 1 4 - 3y + l ,
2 + 5y = 121,
-2-1- 12' 21 - 2 1-;-' = 21 - 21"
y 5

126
 1 - I = 51" I = 1 - 51"
Y = 2(1 - 51,) - 2t, = 2 - 12t"
x = 1 4 - 3(2 - 12 t,) + 1 - 51, = 9 + 31t,.
Knowing that 31 ;;. x > ° and 12 ;;. y > 0, we find the
bounds of t,:
9 I
-- -
31 < t 1 < 9
Consequen tly,
I, = 0, x = 9, Y = 2.
The birthday falls on the 9th day of the second month,
which is February 9.
Another solution that dispenses with equations can also
be tried. We are told the number a = 12x + 31y. Since
1 2x + 24y is divisible by 12, the numbers 7y and a have
the same remainders when divided by 12, Multiplying by
7, we find that 49y and 7a have the same remainders upon
d ivision by 12. But 49y = 48y + y and 48y is divisible
by 12. This means y and 7a have the same remainders upon
division by 12. In other words, if a is not divisible by 12,
then y is equal to the remainder upon division of the number
7a by 12; but if a is divisible by 12, then y = 12. This
gives the number of the month y quite definitely. But if
we know y then it is easy enough to find x.
A tiny piece of advice: before finding the remainder
obtained from the division of 7 a by 12, replace the number
a by its remainder obtained from division by 12. That's
much simpler. For example, if a = 170, then do the fol­
lowing mental arithmetic:
170 = 12 ·14 + 2 (and so the remainder is 2),
2 ·7 = 14; 14 = 12 ·1 + 2 (hence y = 2),
170-31y 170-31 · 2 108
X= 12 = 12 12 = 9 (and so x = 9) .
You can name the birthday of your friend: it is February 9.
127
 Now let us prove that this trick never fails, in other
words, the equation always has only one solution in positive
integers. Denote the number given to you by your friend
by a so that finding the birthday reduces to solving the
equation
12.x + 31 y = a.
We assume the contrary. Suppose that the equation has
two distinct solutions in positive integers, namely the
solution Xl' Yl and the solution xz, Y z (Xl and Xz do not ex coed
31, and Yl and y, do not exceed 12). We then have
1 2.xl + 31Yl = a,
12x2 + 31Y2 = a.
Subtracting the second equation from the first, we get
12(Xl - x,) + 31( Yl - y,) = o.
From this equation it follows that the number 1 2(xl -
- x,) is divisible by 31. Since Xl and x, are positive numbers
that do not exceed 31, their difference Xl - x2 is less than
31. Therefore the number 12(Xl - x,) will be': divisible
by 31 only when Xl = X" that is, when the first solution
coincides with the second. Thus, the assumption that there
are two distinct solutions results in a contradiction.

Selling Chickens
AN OLD PROBLEM

Three sisters came to the market with chickens to sell.

One brought 10, another 16 and the third 26. They sold a
portion of their chickens by noon at the same price. In the
afternoon, afraid that not all the chickens would be sold,
they reduced the price and disposed of the remaining stock
128
all at the same price. A t the end of the day, each sister had
obta ined the same amouut of money from the sale: 35 rubles.
What was the price in the forenoon and in the afternoon1
S O L U TION

Denote the number of chickens sold by each sister in the

forenoon by x, y, z. In the afternoon, they sold 10 - x,
16 - y, 26 - z chickens. The earlier price we denote by
m, the afternoon price by n, For the sake of clarity, here

is a table of the d esignations:

Number or ChiCkel1S sold

I Price

Forenoon x y , m

Afternoon 10 -x 16-y 26-!: n

The first sister obtained

mx + n(10 - x); hence mx + n(10 - x) - 35.
The second sister obtained
my + n(16 - y); hence my + n(16 - y) - 3.5 .
The third sister obtained
mz + n(26 - z); hence mz + n(26 - z) � 35.

{
A few manipulations yield
(m - n)x + 1 0n � 35,
(m - n) y + 16n � 35,
(m - n)z + 26n � 35.
Subtracting the flrst equation from the third and then
the second from the third , \ve get, in succession,
( (m - n) ( z - x) + 16n = 0,
l (m - n) (z - y) + 10n = 0,
$I-OB91 129
 { (m - n) (x - z) � 1Bn,
(m - n) (y - z) � 10n.
Now divide the nrst of these equations by the second:
x-z 8
s­
x- z
�
or
y -z
-- = -;:- -

Since x, y, z are whole numbers, tho differences x - z and

y - z are also whole numbers. Therefore, for the equation
x-z y-z
-S- --
5-

to be possible, it is necessary that x - z be d ivisible by 8 ,

and y - z b y 5. Consequently,
x-z y- z
� -
-S- � t -5
whence
x = z + 8t,
y � z + fit.
Note that the number t is not only a whole number but i.
also positive, since x > z (otherwise the nrst sister would
not have been able to net the same sum as the third).
Since x < 10, it follows that,
z + 8t < 10.
Given z and t as positive whole numbers, the last inequality
is satisfwd in only one case: when z � 1 and t � 1. Sub­
stituting these values into the equations
x � z + 8t and y � z + 5t,
we get x � 9 and y = 6.

130
 Now, going back to the equations
m:!' + n( 10 - x) = 35,
my + n( 16 - y) = 35,
mz + n(26 - z) = 35
and substituting into tbem the values of x, y and z thus
found, we obtain the prices at which the chickens were sold:
3 1
m=3T rubles, n = 1 T rubles.
Thus, in the forenoon the chickens sold for 3 rubles and
75 kopecks, and in the aftemoon for 1 ruble and 25 kopecks.

'l'wo Numbers and Four Operatious

PROBLEM

In solving the preceding problem, which led to three

equations in frye unknowns. we did not follow a general
pattern but rather made use of free mathematical reasoning.
We will do tbe same with respect to tbe following problems
which lead to indeterminate equations of the second degree.
Here's the fu'St.
The following four operations were performed on two
positive integers:
(1) they were added,
(2) the lesser was subtracted from tbe greater,
(3) tbey were multiplied together,
(4) and tbe larger number was divided by the smaller one.
The results thus obtained were then combined to form
a sum of 243. Find the numbers.
SOLUTION

If the greater number is x and the smaller one y, then

(x + y) + (x - y) + xy + : = 243.
'" 131
 If this equation is now multipJied by y, the bracket.
removed, and like terms collected, we get
x (2y + y' + 1) = 243y,
nut 2y + y' + 1 = (y + I)' and so
243u
X = ( y + l)'

For x to be a whole number, the denominator (y + I)'

must be one of the divisors of the number 243 (because y
cannot have the same factors as y + 1). Knowing that
243 = 3', we conclude that 243 is divisible only by the
following numbers, which are perfect squares: 1 , 32, 9�.
This means (y + 1)' must be equal to 1 , 3' or 9', whence,
recalling that y must be positive, we fwd that y is equal
to 8 or 2.
Then x is equal to
243 2
or -9
-

And so the desired numbers are 24 and 8 or 54 and 2,

What lUnd of Rectangle?

PROBLEM

The sides of a rectangle are wbole numbers, What must

their lengths be for the perimeter of the rectangle to be
numerically equal to its area'/
SOLUTION

Denoting the sides of the rectangle by x and y. we set

up the equation
2x + 2y = xy

132
whence
2y
x= y -2 '

Since x and y must be positive, so also must the number

y -2, or y must be greater than 2.
Now notice that
x � � 2 (y-2H-4 4
= 2 + y- 2
y �� 2 v 2 -- .

Since x must be a whole number, the expression 4 2

y-
must be a whole number too. But when y > 2, this is only
possible if y is equal to 3, 4 or 6. The corresponding values
of x are then 6 , 4, 3.
To summari"e: the sought�for fIgure is either a rectangle
with sides 3 and 6 or a square with side 4 .

'1'''' 0 T",o-Di!Jit Numbers

PROBLEM

The numbers 46 and 96 are rather peculiar: their product

does not change if the digits are interchanged.
Look,
46 · 96 = 4416 = 64 . 69.
It is required to fmd out whether there are any other
pa irs of two�digit numbers having the same property. Is
there any way to fmd them all?
SOLUTION

Denoting the digits of the desired numbers by x and y,

z and t, we set up the oquation
(i Ox + y) (1Oz + t) = (10y + x) (1 0t + z).

133
R emoving brackeLs and simplifying, wo got
xz = yt,
where x, y, Z, t are integers less than 10. To nnd the solu­
tions we set up pairs of equal products made up of 9 digits:
1 ·4 = 2·2 2·8 = 4·4
1 ·6 = 2·3 2·9 = 3·6
1·8 = 2·4 3·8 = 4·6
1·9 = 3 · 3 4·9 = 6 ·6
2 · 6 = 3·4
Thero are nine equalities. From each ono it is possible
to set up one or two desired groups of numbers. For example,
using the equality 1 · 4 = 2· 2 we fmd one solution:
12 ·42 = 2 1 · 24.
TTsing 1 · 6 = 2 . 3 we get two solutions:
12·63 = 21 · 36, 13 · 62 = 31 · 26.
In this manner we obtain tbe following 14 solutions:
12 ·42 = 21 · 24 23.96 = :)2 . 69
1 2 · 63 = 21 · 36 24 · 63 = 42·36
1 2 · 84 =
21 · 48 24 · 84 = 42 . 48
13 · 62 = 31 . 26 26 · 93 = 62 . 39
1 3 · 93 = 31 ·39 34 · 86 = 43 · 68
14 . 82 = 41 · 28 3G · 34 = 63 · 48
23 · 64 = 32 ·46 46 · 96 = 64· 69
 Pythagorean Numbers
A convenient and very exact method used by surveyors to
lay down perpendicular lines consists in the following.
Suppose it is required to draw a perpendicular to the straight
line MN through point A (Fig. 13) . To do this, from A lay

B a a a A N
M
a
a

a a

a
a

a
a

Fig. 13

off a distance a three times on AM. Then make three knots

in a rope with distances between knots equal to 4a and. 50.
Take the, extreme knots and place them on A and B ; then
take the middle knot and stretch the rope. The result will
be a triangle with a right angle at A .
This ancient procedure, which most likely was used thou­
sands of years ago by the builders of the Egyptian pyramids,
is based on the fact that every triangle whose sides are in
the ratio 3 : 4 : 5 is, by the familiar theorem of Pythagoras,
a right-angle triangle because
3' + 4' = 5'.
Besides the numbers 3, 4, 5, there are an infinity of
positive integers a, b, c satisfying the relation
' =
a + b' c' .

135
They are called Pythagorean numbers. According to the
Pythagorean theorem, such numbers may serve as the sides of
a rigbt triangle, and so a and b are termed tbe legs and c
is the hypotenu,e.
Clearly, if a, b, c is a Pytbagorean triad (a triplet of
Pythagorean numbers), thenpa, pb, pc, where p is an integral
factor, are Pythagorean numbers too. Conversel y, i f any
Pythagorean numbers have a common multiple, then that
multiple can be used to divide through all the numbers and
again obtain a Pythagorean triad. Thereforo, to begin with
let us investigate only triplets of relatively prime Pythago­
rean numbers (the others can be obtained from them by mul­
tiplication by an integral factor p).
We will now show that i n each of these triplets a, b, c
one of the legs must be even and the other odd. We assume
the contrary. If both legs a and b are even, then the number
a' + b' will be even and hence so also will the hypotenW!e.
However, this contradicts the fact that the numbers a, b, c
do not have any factors in common since throe even numbers
have the common factor 2. Thus at least one of the legs,
a or b, must be odd.
There is still another possibility: both legs are odd and
the hypotenuse is even. It is easy to show that this cannot
be. J ndeed, if the legs are of the form
2x + 1 and 2y + 1 ,

then the sum of their squares is equal to

4x' + 4x + 1 + 4y' + 4y + 1 � 4 (x' + x + y' + y) + 2,

which is a number that, divided by 4, yields 2 a!S a remainder.

Yet the square of any even number should be exactly divis­
ible by 4. This means the sum of the squares of two odd num­
bers cannot be the square of an even number; in other words,
our throi numbers are not Pythagorean numbers.
136
 Thus, of the legs a and b, one is even and the other is
odd. Therefore, the number a' + b' is odd and, hence, the
hypotenuse c is odd.
Suppose, for the sake of definiteness, that leg a is odd
and leg b is even. From the equation
a' + b' =
c'
we immedia tel y get
a' = c' - b2 =
(c + b) (c - b).

The factors c + b and c - b in the right-hand member of the

equation are relatively prime. True enough, because if those
numbers had a prime factor in common different from unity,
then that factor would divide the sum
(c + b) + (c - b) 2c =

and the di fference

(c + b) - ( c - b) =
2b
and the product
(c + b) (c - b) = a' ,
which means the numbers 2c, 2b and a would have a com­
mon factor. Since a is odd. the factor is different from 2, and
for this reason this same factor is common to the numbers a,
b, c, which however cannot be. Tho contradiction thu'3 ob­
tained shows that the numbers c + b and c - b are relatively
primo.
But if the product of relatively prime numbers is a perfect
square, tholl each of them is a square , or
{ c + b = In ' ,

C - b = n2.

137
Solving this system, we get
m2 + n2 m2 _ n2
I 2-"--
c= 2 b = --;;

a' � (c + b) (c - b) � m'n', a � mn.

And so the Pythagorean numbers under consideration here are
of the form
a = mn, b C=- +2..:;"-'
.c.,---);
m'

where m and n are certain relatively prime odd numbers. The

reader can readily convince himself of the converse: for any
odd m and n tbe formulas above yield three Pythagorean
numbers a, b, c.
Here are several Pythagorean triads obtained for different
m and n :
for m = 3, n � 1 3' + 4' � 5'
for m � 5, n � 1 5' + 12' � 13'
for m = 7 n � 1 7' + 24' � 25'
for m � 9 , n � 1 9' + 40' � 41'
for m � 1 1 , n � 1 11' + 60' � 61'
for m � 13, n 1� 13' + 84' 85' �

for m � 5, n � 3 15' + 8' � 17'

for m = 7 , n �3 21' + 20' � 29'
for m � 1 1 , n � 3 33' + 56' � 65'
for m � 13, n = 3 39' + 80' � 89'
for m = 7, n �5 35' + 12' 37' �

for m = 9 , n = 5 45' + 28' � 53'

for m = 1 1 , n 5 55' + 48' = 73'
65' + 72' = 97'
=

for m = 13, n = 5
for m = 9 , n = 7 63' + 16' = 65'
for m = 11 , n = 7 77' + 36' = 85'

138
 All other Pythagorean triads either have common factors or
contain numbers exceeding a hundred.
Pythagorean numbers have a number of curious properties
that we list below without proof:
( 1 ) One of the legs must be a multiple of three.
(2) One of the legs must be a multiple of four.
(3) One of the Pythagorean numbers must be a multiple
of five.
A glance at the Pythagorean numbers given above will
convince the reader that these properties do hold true.

An Indeterminate Eqnation
of the 'l'hh'd Degree
The sum of the cubes of three integers may be a cube
of a fourth number. For instance, 33 + 43 + .53 � 63•
Incidentally, this means that a cube whose edge is equal
to 6 em is equal in size to the sum of three cubes whose

Fig. 14

edges are 3 cm, 4 cm and 5 cm (Fig. 14). It is said that this

relation highly intrigued Plato.
Let us try to find other relations of the same kind; we
pose the problem of ftnding solutions to the equation
Xl + y3 + Z3 = u3.
It is mol'C convenient to denote the unknown u by -to Then
the equation takes the simple form
x3 + y3 + i' + t" = O.
 We will now consider a procedure that will make it pos­
sible to find any number (an infinity) of solutions to this
equation in integers (positive and negative). Let a, b, c, d
and a, �, 'I, 6 be quadruples of numbers satisfying this
equation. To the numbers of the first quadruple add those
of the second quadruple multiplied b y some number ",
and let us also try to choose k so that the resulting numbers
a + ka, b + k�, c + ky, d + Jc6
also satisfy our equation. In other words, we choose Ie so
that the following equality holds true:
(a + "a)' + (b + k W + (c + "'I )' + (d + Jc6') = o.
Opening parentheses and recalling that the quadruples
a, b, c, d and a, �, 'I, 6 satisfy our equation, that is,
that we have
a' + b' + c' + d' = 0 , a' + �' + 'I' + 6 ' = 0,
we get
3a'ka + 3ak'u' + 3b'k� + 3bk'�' + 3c'ky + 3ck'y'
+3d'k8 + 3dk'6' = 0
or
3k [( a'a + b2� + C'l'
+ d' 6) + k (aa' + b�' + cy' + db')]
= o.
A product vanishes only if at least one of its factors is
zero. Equating each of the factors to zero, we obtain two
values for k . The fIrst value, " 0, does not interest us :
=

it means that if nothing is added to the numbers a, b, c, d,

then the resulting numbers satisfy cur equation. So we take
only the second value for k:
a'a + b'� + ,'v + d'6
k= - aa.2. + b� Z + cy2+rlb2 •

140
If we know two quadruples of numbers that satisiy the orig­
inal equation, we can find the new qnadruple: to do this, add
to the numbers of the first quadruple the numbers of the
second quadruple multiplied by k, where k has the value
given above.
To make use of this procedure , it is necessary to know
two quadruples of numbers satisfying the original equation.
We already know one: (3, 4, 5, -6) . Where can we flll d
another one? This is very simple. For the second quadruple,
take the numbers r, -r, s, -s, which obviously satisfy
the original equation. In other words, set
c � 5, d � -6,
a = r, � = -r, y � s 6 � -so

Then, as is easy to sec, for k we obtain the following value:

- 7r - ih 7r+ 118
7ri .s2. 7r2 82 '

and the numbers a + ka, b + k�, c + ky, d + k6 will be

respectively equal to
28r:1. +1 1r8- 382- 21rz - 11r&-4.82-
7r2 82. 7rZ 82
35r2.+7rs+ 682 -42r2o -7r8-58Z
7r2 _82 7rZ-s2

By what has already boen stated above, these four expres­

sions satisfy the original eq ua tion
x' + y' + z" + t' � O .
Since all these expressions have the sarno denominator, it
can be dropped (which means the numerators of these
fractions also satisfy the equation at hand ) . To summarize,
the equation is satisfwd (for any r and s) by the following
141
numbers :
x � 28r' + tlrs - 3s',
y � 21r' - lirs - 48',
z � 35r' + trs + 6s',
t � -42r' - trs - 5"",
One can convince himself directly that this is so by cubing
the expressions and adding them. Then, assigning variou'3
integral values to r and S, We can obtain a whole series of
integral solutions to our equation. If in the process the
numbers have a common factor, it can be divided out. For
example, for r = 1 , S = 1 , we get for x, y, Z, t the values
36, 6, 48, -54, or, after dividing through by 6, we have
6, 1 , 8, -9 , Thus
63 + l' + 83 = 93•
Here are a number of equalities of this type (obtained
after dividing through by a common factor) :
for r � 1 , s � 2 38' + 7.33 � 1 73 + 763
for r � 1, s � 3 173 + 553 = 243 + 543
for r � 1 , s� 5 4' + 1 1(P � 67' + 101'
for r � 1 , s � 4 8' + 533 � 293 + 50'
-for - r = 1 , s = - 1 7' + 1 4' + 17' = 20'
for r = 1 , s � - 2 2' + 1 6' �93 + 153
for r � 2, s = -1 29' + 343 + 443 533
=

Note that if in the originol quadruple 3, 4, 5, -0 or

in one of the newly obtained quadruples the numbers are
transposed and the same procedure is applied, we obtain
a new set of solutions, For example, taking the quadruple
3, 5, 4, -6 (that is, by putting a � 3, b � 5, c = 4 ,
142
d = - 6) , we get the following values ior x, y, z, t:
x =20r' + 1 0r8 - 38',
y � 1 2r' - 10r8 - 58',
Z � 16r' + Sr8 + 68',
t -24r' -
� Sr8 - 48'.
From this, taking various values of r and S, we obtain the
following set of new relations:
for r � 1, 8� 1 9' + 10' � + 12'
l'
for r � 1, 8� 3 23' + 94' � 63' + 84'
for r � 1, 8� 5 5' + 163' + 164' � 206'
for r � 1, 8� 6 7' + 54' + 57' � 70'
for r � 2, s � 1 23' + 97' + 86' � 116'
for r � 1, s � -3 3' + 36' + 37' � 46'
and so forth.
In this way we can obtain an infmity of solutions of the
equation under consideration.

One Hundred Thousand

lor the Pl'ool 01 a 'l'heOl'em
One of the prohlems in the field of inde Lerminate equations
became famous t hrough the huge sum of 100 000 German
marks that was offered (in a will) for its solution.
The problem is to prove the following proposition that
goes by the name of "Fermat's last (or great) theorem".
The sum of identical powers of two integers cannot be the
same power of some third integer. The only exception is the
second power for which it is possible.
143
 In other word., it i. required to prove that the equation
xn + yn -= zn

cannot be solved in whole numbers for ,, > 2.

We have seen that the equations
x2 + y2 = z3,
x' + y' + z3 "" I'

have any number of integral solutions. But try to find three

positive integers for which the equation x' + y' = Z3 holds
true and all your efforts will be in vain.
It is likewise impossible to find examples for the fourth,
fifth, sixth and higher powers. That is the essence of Fer­
mat's great theorem.
Now what is required of seekers of the prize? They have to
prove this proposition for all those powers for which it is
true. The point is that Fermat's theorem has not yet been
proved.
Three centuries have pa ss ed since it wa s first proposed
and mathematicians have so far failed to prove it.
The greatest mathematicians have worked on the prob­
lem but at best have only proved the theorem for individ­
ual exponents or groups of exponents, whereas what is
required is a general proof for any integral exponent.
Particularly remarkable is the fact that the proof of the
theorem was apparently known at ono time, and then was
lost. Fermat' , the one who proposed the theorem, was an
eminent mathematician of the 17th century. He claimed
that he knew of a proof. Fermat wrote down his "great"
'" Fermat (1603-1665) was not a professional mathematician. He
was educalod as a lawyer and was a councillor of the parliament and
his mathematical investigations were done in between. This did not
prevent him from making a number of outstanding discQveric3, which,
incidentally, he did not publish but, as was the custom in those day!!,
described in his letters to scientists and friends: Pascal , Descartes,
HU Y2'ens, Roberval, and others.

144
theorem in the margin of a book by Diophantus (as he did
a numher of other theorems in the field of number theory)
and added these words : HI have discovered a truly marvel­
ous demonstration, which this margin is too narrow to
contain."
Nowhere has this proof been found, either in the papers
of the great mathematician or in his correspondence or
anywhere else.
Fermat's successors were forced to work out the matter in
their own way.
Here are the results of these effort" Euler (1797) proved
Fermat's theorem for the third and fourth powers; the futh
power was proved! by Legendre (1823), the seventh' b y
Lame and Lebesgue (1840). In 1849 Kummer proved the
theorem for a broad rango of powers and, incidentally, for
all exponents less than one hundred. These latter investiga­
tions go far beyond the limits of the realm of mathematics
known to Fermat and it is quite a mystery how Fermat
could have di,covered a general proof of hi' great theorem.
True, he could have been mistaken.
For those interested in the history and the present state
of Fermat's problem we suggest A. Ya. Khinchin's Fermat's
Great Theorem (in Ru.sian), a nice booklet that can be read
by anyone with an elementary knowledge of mathematics .

• No special proof Is required for composite exponenl� (elcept 4 ):

such cases reduce to those of prime exponents.

10-0891
 Chapter five

'I'HE SI X'l'H J\IA'l'HEMA'l'ICAL

OPERATION

The Sixth OpCl'ation

Addition and multiplication each have an inverse opera­
tion called subtraction and division respectively. The fifth
mathematical operation-raising to a power-has two in­
verses: finding the base and fmding the exponent. Finding the
base is the sixth mathematical operation and is called
extraction of roots. Finding the exponent (this is the seventh
operation) is termed taking logarithms. The reason why
raising to a power has two inverses, whereas addition and
multiplication have only one each is easy to see: both
terms in addition (first and second) are of an equal status
and can be interchanged. The same goes for multiplication.
N ow the numbers that take part in raising to a power are
not of the same status and, generally, cannot be interchanged
(for example 3' oF 5'). For this reason, finding each of the
numbers participating in addition and multiplication is
handled by the same procedures, whereas finding the base
of a power and finding the exponent are handled in different
ways.
The sixth operation (root extraction) is denoted by the
symbol I/o It is not so commonly known that this is a modi­
fication of the Latin letter r, the initial letter in the word
radix, meaning roo\. There was a time (in the 16th century)
when the root symbol was designated by a capital R along­
side which stood the first letter of the Latin words quadra­
tus (q) and cuhus (c) to ·indicate which particular root was
146
being sought. * For example� one wrote
R.q. 4352
to mean
V4352.
Add to this the fact that at that time there were no signs
to indicate plus and minus (the letters p. and m. were used
instead) and also the fact that our brackets (parentheses)
were indicated by the symbols L ..J and it will be clear
that those notations were a far cry from customary algebraic
symbols in use today.
Here is an example taken from a book by the mathemati­
cian Bombelli (1572):
R.c. LR.q. 4352 p. 16 ..Jm.R .c. L R.q. 4352 m. 16..J.
Using modern symbols, it would look like this:
, 3

V V 4352 + 1 6 - V V 4352 - 16. ,

Besides the notation ·Via we can also make use of an, which
is particularly convenient in the sense of generalization,
for it demonstrates very pictorially that every root is nothing
other than a power whose exponent is a fraction. It was
proposed by the well-known Flemish engineer and mathe­
matician of the 16th century Simon Stevin.

Which Is G.'eater?
PROBLEM 1

Which is greater 'y5 or V 2?

This and the problems that follow are to be solved without
bothering to compute the values of the roots.
in the first half of the 18th century in Russia, docs not have a special
,.. Magnitsky's textbook of mathematics, which was widely used
symbol for root extraction.

147
 SOLUTION

Raising both expressions to the 10th power, we get

(,)/:5)10 = 5' = 25, ( Y 2) 1 O = 2' = 32
And since 32 > 25, it follows that
Y2 > 'y S
PROBLEM 2
Which is greater 74 or Jl 7'?
SOLUTION

Raising both expressions to the 28th power, we get

(74)" = 4 7 = 2 " = 27 · 27 = 128',
(1''7)'' = 7' = 7'· 7'= 49'.
Since 128 > 49, it follows that
74. > JI"7 .
PROBLEM 3
Find the grea ter expression of y 7' + Y 10 and V 3" + V 19.
SOLUTION

Squaring both expressions, we get

(Y'l + Y 10)' = 1 7 + 2 Y 70,
(Y3" + Y19)' = 22 + 2 Y57,
Reduce both expressions by 17 and we have
2 Y70 and 5 + 2Y57.
Square these expressions. This yields
280 and 253 + 20 Y57.

148
 Subtract 253 from each and then compare them:
27 and 20 Y57.
Since y 57 is groater than 2, it follows that 20 V 57 > 40;
hence
V 3 + Y 19 > V 7 + Y 10.

Solve It at a Glance
PH OBLEM
Take a close look at the equation
XX' =3
and find x immediately.
SOLUTION
Anyone familiar with algebraic symbols will ftgure out that
3.
3/­
x=v

It must be that because

x" = (Y:l)' = 3
and consequently

which is what we sought.

For those who cannot do tho problem "at a glance", try
this device.
Let

Then
x = ,;
3/ y.
­

149
and the equation becomes
('yy)V = 3
Of, cubing,
yV 3' .
=

It is clear that =
y 3 and, hence,
x = v3/-y = v3/.3.
Algebraic Comedies
P H O B LEM 1
The sixth mathematical operation makes it possible to
devise actual algebraic comedies and farces on such topics
as 2 · 2 = 5, 2 = 3 and the like. The humour in these mathe­
matical shows lies in the fact that the error-a rather ele­
mentary one-is somewhat camouflaged and is not at once
apparent. Let us take two plays from this comic repertoire
from the field of algebra.
To start with,
2 = 3.
We begin with the unquestional equality
4 - 10 = 9 - 15.
Then to both sides of the eq uality we add the same quan-
1
tity, 6"4 :

The comedy goes on with the following manipulations:

2'- 2 . 2.�+ ( �)' = 3' -2 . 3. f + (�) ' ,
( 2- f)' = ( 3 - f) ' .
1 ::'0
Taking the square root of both members of the equation, we
get
2 - 25 = 3 - 25 ,
Finally, adding } to both sides, we arrive at our comical
result:
2 = 3,
Where is the mistake?
SOLUTION

An error slipped in when we concluded that from

(2-{)' = ( .3-{)'
follows
2 -. 25 = 3 - 25 ,
From the fact that the squares are equal it does not at all
follow that the first powers are equal. Say, (-5)' = 5',
but -5 does not equal 5, Squares may be equal even when
the first powers have different signs , That precisely is the
case in Ollr problem:

( _ �)2= (�)".
But -� is not the same as + '
PROBLEM 2
Here's another algebraic farce (Fig, 1 �):
2 , 2 = 5,
It follows tbe patb of the preceding problem and is based on
the same trick We start out with the undoubtedly flawless
151
 16-36 = 2'5-45
16 -36720)4 =
= 2 '5- 4 5 + 20).4

(4_�)2 (5-tY
=

2x2=5

Fig. 15

equality
16 - 36 = 25 - 45.
Equal numbers are added to each side:
1
16 - 36 + 20 4 = 25 - 4S + 20 41
and then the following manipulations are carried out:

4' - 2 · 4 · { + ( f) 2 = 5' _ 2 . 5 . ; + ( ;) 2 ,

( 4 - f)2 = (S-f) 2.
152
 Again using the false conclusion of the earlier problem,
we finally get
9 9
4- 2= 5 - 2 ,
4 = 5,
2 · 2 = 5.
Those amusing instances should bo a warning to the
inexperienced mathematician in performing imprudent opor·
ations with equations involving tho radical sign.
 Chapter SIX

SECONH·])EGREE EQU A'l'IONS

ShakiB" Hands
PROBLEM
A meeting gathered Hnd someone counted the total number
of handshakes to be 66. How many people were there at the
meeting?
SOLUTION
Algebraically, the problem is solved with great ease.
Each of x people shook the hand of x 1 persons, which puts
-

the total number of handshakes at x (x - 1). But also bear

in mind that when Ivanov shakes the hand of Petrov,
Petrov also shakes Ivanov's hand. We count these two
handshakes as one. That makes the number of handshakes
half of x (x - 1):
x (x-1)
2
66,
or, after some simplifying manipulations,
x' - x - 132 = 0,
whonce
1 + l'I+528
X= 1
2
X, = 12, x, = -11.
Since the negative solution (-11 persons) is meaningl ...
hero, we discard it and retain only the nr.t root. Twelve
person'S were at the meetini'.
1 54
 Swal'ms 01 Bees
PROBLEM

In ancient India there was a curious kind of sporting

contest, a sort of a public competition in the solution of
diffICult problems. Hindu mathematics manuals served in
part as an aid to competitors of such contests in mental
sport. One author of such a manual wrote: "The rules given
here can be used by a wise man to think up thousands of
other problems. Just as the sun in its brightness eclipses
the stars, so a wise man can eclipse the glory of another
in congregations of people by submitting and solving alge­
bTaic problems." The original is more poetic since the whole
book is maue up of verses, and the problems too are in verse
form. Here is one translated into prose.
A group of bees equal in number to the square root of half
the whole swarm alighted on a jasmine bush, leav ing behind
8/9 of the swarm. And only one little bee circled about a lotus
for it was attracted by the buzzing of a sister bee that was
so careless as to fall into the trap of the fragrant flower.
How many bees were there in tho swarm?
SOLUTION

If we denote the desired number of bees in the swarm

by x, the equation takes the form

This can be simplifled by introducing an auxiliary unknown:

Y= V �.
Then x = 2y2 and we obtain
y+ 1�' + 2 = 2y2 or 2y2 - 9y - 18 = O.

1 55
 Solving this equation. we get two values for y;
0
y , = 6. y, = - 2 '

The corresponding values for x are

X, = 72, X, = 4.5.
Since the number of bees can only be whole and positive,
only the first root satisfies the problem; the swarm consisted
of 72 bees. Let us check this;

-\i- + g8 - 72 + 2 = 6 + 64 + 2 = 72.
,V ; '2

A Troop of l\lonkeys
PROBLEM

Here is another Hindu problem that appears as a poem

in a marvellous little book called Who InDented A lgebra?
by V. I . Lebedev. Hendered into English, it goes like this:
Two little bands of monkeys at play.
An eighth of them squared were jabbering wildly in a thicket
When 1 welve shouted loudly with glee!
Tell me: How many were there altogether)n the thicket?

SOLUTIO1\'

If the total number of monkeys in the troop is X, then

and from this

Xl = 48, X2 = 16.
The problem has two positive solutions: there could be
either 48 monkeys altogether or 1 6 . Both answers fully
satisfy the problem.
156
 Farsighted Equations

In the problems we have so far considered, the two roots

of each equation wore made usc of in different ways depend­
ing on the conditions of the problem. In the first case
we dropped the negative root because it contradicted the
sense of the problem, in the second case we discarded the
fractional and negative root, and in the third problem,
on the contrary, we made use of both roots. The existence
of a second solution is often quito a surprise not only for
the one working the problem but also for the one who thought
it up. What follows is a problem in which the equation
turned out to be more farsighted than the one who posed it.
A ball is thrown upwards at a speed of 25 metres a second.
In how many seconds will it reach 20 metres above the
ground?
SOLUTION

For bodies thrown upwards in the absence of air resistance.

mechanics has established the following relationship between
the height (h) it reaches above the ground, the initial veloc­
ity (v), the acceleration of gravity (g) and the time (t):
gt'
h � vl - T

VITo disregard air resistance i n this case because it i s

very slight in the case of small speeds. T o further simplify
calculations, we take g equal to 10 metres (instead of 9.8 me­
tres, which is an error of only 2 % ) . Substituting into our
formula the values of h, v and g, we get the equation
20 � 251 - 1�'
which can be simpliflOd to
I' - 51 + 4 � o.

,7
1)
Solving this equation, we obtain
I, = 1 and t, = 4.
The ball will be at a height of 20 metres twice: after
a lapse of 1 second and after 4 seconds.
This appears to be improbable and so without giving
much thought to the matter we discard the second solution.
But that is a mistakel The second solution is quite meaning·
ful, for the ball did indeed reach a height of 20 metres twice.
First when it went up, and a second time on the way down.
It can easily be figured out that with an initial velocity
of 25 metres a second the ball will spend 2.5 seconds on
its upward leg reaching a height of 31.25 metres. After 1
second it will reach 20 metres, but will.. go on upwards
)nother 1.5 seconds. Then it will take the same amount of
time to drop back to the 20·metres level and, a second
later, will reach the ground.

EuleJ" s l'roblem
Stendhal, in his autobiography, relates the foll owing
about his days of schooling:
"The mathematics teacher had a book by Euler and there I
found his problem on the number of eggs that a peasant
woman was carrying to market . . . . This was a revelation
to me. I realized what it meant to use the tool called algebra.
But, the devil take it, nobody had ever told me about this
thing . . . . "
Here is the problem from Euler's Introduction to A lgebra
that so strongly impressed the young Stendhal.
Two peasant women together took 100 eggs to market, one
had more than the other. Both sold them for the same sum
of money. The first then said to the second: "If I had had
your eggs, I would have earned 1 5 kreuzers," to which the
158
second repiied: If 1 had had your eggs, I would have earned
6 i- kreuzers." How many eggs did each have to begin with?
SOLUTION
Suppose the first peasant had x eggs and the second 100 - x.
If the first had had 100 - x eggs, she would have earned 15
kreuzers. This means the first woman sold her eggs at
15
100- x
apiece.
In the same way we find that the second peasant sold.her
eggs at
2 20
6 "3 : x = &;"
apiece.
We can now determine the actual earnings of each peasant
woman:
15 15x
first: x · 100 - x 100 �-'x 1

20
second: (IOO -x) . &;" = 20 (100-x)
3x
•

Since they both earned the same amount, it follows that

15x 20 ( 100-x)
100 - x 3x

Simplifying we get
x' + 160x - 8000 = 0
and from this,
X, = 40, x, = - 200.
Here the negative root is meaningless, and the problem
has only one solution: the first peasant woman brought
40 eggs to market and the second, consequently, 60.
159
 This problem can be solved faster, but i t requires a good
deal of insight and is harder to hit upon.
Suppose the second peasant ha d " times the number of eggs
of the first. Since they earned the same money, the first
peasant sold her eggs at a price " times that of the second.
If they had exchanged their goods before selling them, the
first peasant would have k times as many eggs as the second
and would have sold them at k times the price. Which mea.ns
she would have earned k' more money than the second
peasant. And so we have:
k' = 15 : 6 ; = ;; = :
whence

It now remains to divide the 100 eggs in the ratio of 3 to 2.

This tells us immediately that the first peasant woman
had 40 eggs and the second 60 eggs.

Loudspeakers
PROBLEM

Thirteen loudspeakers are set up on a square in two groups:

there are 4 in one group and 9 in the other. The two groups
are separated by a distance of .50 metres. The question is:
where should a person stand for the loudness of the sound
from both groups to be the same?
SOLUTION

If we denote tho distance of the desired point from the

smaller group by x, then its distance from the larger group
will be 50 - x ( Fig. 16). Knowing that the sound intensity
160
 50-x

Fig. 16

falls off with the square of the distance, we have the eqlla�ion

1) = (50-x)'
4 x2

which, simpI ified , looks like this:

x'. + SOx - 2000 = O.
Solving the equation we get two roots:
Xl = 20,
x, = - 1 00.
The positive root answers the question a t once: the point of
equal audibility i s located 20 metres from the group made
up of four lou dspeakers and, consequently, 30 metres from
the group of nine.
What does the negative root of the equation signify? Has
ieany meaning at all?
Yes, it does. Tho minus sign means that the second point
of equal audibility lies in the opp osite direction to that

1 1- 0 8 9 1 161
which is taken as the positive direction when we set up the
equation.
If we lay off 1 00 metres from the location of the four
loudspeakers in the required direction, we find the point
where the sound from both groups of loudspeakers comes in
with equal intensity. This point lies at a distance of 100 me­
tres + 50 metres � 150 metres from the group of nine
loudspeakers.
To summarizo, thon, we have found two points of equal
audibility (that is, from among the points lying on a straight
line joining the sources of sound). There are no other such
points on that line, but outside the line there are. It can
be proved that the set of all points satisfying our problem
constitutes a circle drawn through the two points that were
found as through the endpoints of the diameter. It will
be seen that this circle bounds a rather extensive area
(cross-hatched in the drawing) inside which the audibility
of the group of four lou dspeakers is greater than that of the
group of nine, and outside this circle the situation is just
the opposite.

The Algebra of a Lunar Voyage

In the same manner that we found points of equal audibil­

ity in a system of two groups of loudspeakers, We can find the
points of equal attraction of a spaceship in flight between
two celestial bodies: the earth and the moon. Let us try to
fmd these points.
By Newton's law, the force of mutual attraction of two
bodies is directly proportional to the product of the masses
of the bodies and is inversely proportional to the square
of the distance betweon tbem. If tho mass of the earth is M
and the distance of the spaceship from it is X, then the
force with which the earth pulls each gram of mass of the
162
spaceship is given as
Mk
�
where " is the force of mutual attraction of one gram by
one gram at a distance of one centimetre.
The force with which the moon attracts each gram of the
spaceship at the same point is
mk
(t�x)'
where m is the mass of the moon and l is its distance from
the earth (the spaceship is assumed to be located between the
earth and the moon on the straight line connecting their
centres). The problem requires that
Mk mk
� = (l X)2
or
M x'
-=
m [2 21x + x2 .
M
The ratio m is known from astronomy to be roughly equal
to 81.5. Substituting it into this equation gives us
x'
l2 - 2Ix+x2
81.5,
and from this we get
80.5x' - 163. 01x + 81. 5/' = O.
Solving the equation for x, we obtain
Xl = x, = 1 . 12/.
0.9/,
As in the problem of the l oudspeakers, we conclude that
there are two desired p oints on the earth-moon line where
the spaceship must be identically attracted by both celestial
bodies: one point lying at 0.9 the distance between them
163
reckoning from the centre 01 the earth, and the other at
1.12 the same distanco. Since the distance l between the
centres of the earth and the moon is approximately equal to
384 000 km, one of the sought-for points will be 346 000 km
from the centre of the earth, and the other will be at
430 000 km.
Now we know (see the preceding problem) that all points
of a circle passing through the two points just found, taking

384000km

Fig_ 17

them as the endpoints of a diameter, have this property_ If

we :otate this circle about the line joining the centres of
the earth and the moon, it will describe a spherical surface,
all points of which will satisfy the requirements of our
problem.
The diameter of this sphere, called the sphere of attraction
(Fig. 17) of the moon, is equal to
1 . 1 2l - 0.9l � 0 . 22l "'" 84 000 km.

Thore is a rather widespread erroneous opinion that if ono

wants to reach the moon in a spaceship it is sufftcient to reach
164
its sphere of attraction. At first glance it would appear that
if a spaceship enters the sphere of attraction (and if, besides,
its velocity is not considerable), then it must inevitably
fall onto the moon since the force of lunar attraction in
this region overcomes the earth's gravity. If this were the
case, the problem of flights to the moon would be much
sjmpler, for it would not be necessary to aim at the moon
the diameter of which appears in the sky at an angle of
1/2", but at a sphere of diameter 84 000 km, whose angular
dimensions are equal to 12°.
However, it is easy to show that this reasoning is wrong.
Suppose a spaceship launched from the earth is contin­
uously losing speed due to tho earth's gravitational attrac­
lion and reaches the sphere of attraction of the moon with
zoro velocity. Will it fall onto the moon? Not at alll
First, even within the sphere of attraction of the moon,
terrestrial gravity continues to be felt. That is why the force
of lunar ottraction off the earth-moon line will not merely
overcome the force of attraction of the earth, but will
combine with that force via the parallelogram rule and will
yield a resultant force that is not at all directed towards
the moon (it is only on the earth-moon line that this resultant
force is directed towards the centre of the moon).
Second, and this is most important, the moon itself is
not a fixed target, and if we want to know how a spaceship
will move with respect to the moon (that is, whether it will
reach the lunar surface or not), we have to take into account
the velocity of the spaceship relative to the moon. Now this
velocity is not at all equ�d to zero, since the moon itself is
in motion about the earth with a velocity of 1 km/s. For
this reason, the speed of the spaceship relative to the moon is
too high for the moon to be able to attract the spaceship or
at least hold it within its sphere of attraction as an arti­
ficial satell ite.
Actually, lunar attraction begins to exert an appreciable
effect on the motion of a spaceship some time before the ship
165
comes close to the sphere of attraction of the moon. In
celestial ballistics, the rule is to take lunar gravity into
account from the time the ship comes within the so-called
sphere of action of the moon (66 000 km in radius). Then one
can consider the motion of a spaceship rcla live to tho moon
and totally disregard the earth's gravity, but close account
must b e made of the velocity (relative to the moon) with
which the spaceship enters the sphere"of action. It is natural,
therefore, that the spaceship has to be sent to the moon
along a flight path that ensures that the velocity (relative
to the moon) of entry into the sphere of action is directed
at the moon. For this to happen, the sphere of lunar action
must run into the spaceship as it is moving to an encounter
across its path of travel. So we see that hitting the moon is
no easy job, much less so than hitting a s'p here 84 000 km
in diameter.

A Hard Problem
Tn 1895 N. Bogdanov-Belsky painted a picture called
A Hard Problem (see Fig. 18) and many of those who have
seen it most l ikely skipped over the problem itself, though
it is well worth looking into. The idea behind the picture is a
problem in mental arithmetic, to be solved at a glance:
1 02 + 1 1 2 + 122+13 2+ 142 -?
365 -.

The problem really isn't easy. But the pupils of the teacher
portrayed in the pjcture-and the portrait is an accurate one
of S. A. Rachinsky, professor of natural science, who left the
university to become an ordinary schoolteacher in the vil­
Jage-coped with it. In his school this talented teacher
cultivated habits of mental arithmetic based on a marvellous
handling of the properties of numbers. The numbers 10, 1 1 ,
166
 Fig. 1 8

12, 13, and 14 have the curious peculiarity that 102 +

+ 11' + 12' = 13' + 14'.
Since 100 + 121 + 144 = 365, it is easy to work out
mentally that the expression given in the picture is equal
to 2.
Algebra enables us to pose the problem of this interesting
peculiarity · of a number series on a broader basis: is this
the only series of five consecutive numbers, the sum of the
squares of the first three of which is equal to the sum of
the squares of the last two?
1 67
 SOLUTIO!'!

Denoting the fu"st of tho desired numbers by X, we get

the equation
� + � + 1)' + � + 2)' - � + �' + � + � ' ,
It is more convenient however to donote by x the second
one of the sought-for numbers instead of the first, The equa­
tion tl'en takes on a simpler aspect:
(x I)' + x' + (x -I- I)' - (x -I- 2) ' + (x -I- 3)' ,
-

Removing brackets and simplifying, we obtain

x' - lOx - 1 1 - 0,
whence
x - 5 + j!25 -I- 11, Xl - 11, x, = -1.
Thus there are two sequences of numbers with the required
property: the fla chinsky sequence
10, 11, 12, 13, 14
and the sequence
-2, -1, 0, 1 , 2,
True enough,
(-2)' -I- (-I)' I
-- 0' = l' -I- 2',

Fiudiun
- -
NlImbeJ's
-

P R O B LEM

Finel three successive numbers that have the property that

the square of the middle number is gr!"a,t,e,r ,by unity than the
,product of the other two number s,
 SOLUTION
If the first of the sought-for numbers is x, then the equa­
tion we can set up looks like this:
(x + 1)' � x (x + 2) + 1.
.

Homoving brackets, we get the equation

x' + 2x + 1 = x' + 2x + 1.
But we can't find x. This means that we have an identity,
and it holds true for all values of the letters involved and
not only for certain values, as in the case of an ordinary
equation. And so any three numbe r s taken in succession
possess the required property. Indeed, take any three num­
bers at random,
17, is, 19,
and we See tha t
is' - 17 ·19 = 324 - 323 = 1.

The necessity 0 1 such a relation is even more evident if

we use x to denote the second numbe r . We then get
x' - 1 = (x + 1) (x - 1)
which is an obvious id entity.
 Cha pt er seven

LARGEST AN)) SMALLEST VALUES

The problems in this chapter have to do with a very excit­

ing thing: the seeking of maximum (largest) and minimum
( smallest) values of some quantity. They may be solved in a
variety of ways, one of which we give below.
In his paper entitled The Drawing of Geographical Maps,
the eminent Russian mathematician P. L. Chebyshev wrote
that those methods of science are of particular value that
permit solving a problem that is common to the wbole
rango of human activity: how to arrange the facilities at
one's disposal so as to attain the greatest possible advantage.

Two Tl'ains
PHOBLEM
Two railway lines intersect at right angles. Two trains
arc racing at tho sarno timo to the intersection, one having
left a station 40 km from tbe intersection, the other from
a station 50 km from the intersection. The first train is
doing 800 metres per minute, the second, 600 metres per
minute.
In how many minutes after start will the locomotives be
separated by the shortest distance? Find that distance.
SOLUTION
Let us make a diagram of the movements of the trains.
Let the straight lines AB and CD be the intersecting lines
(Fig. 19). Station B is 40 km from the point of intersection 0,
170
station D is 50 km from it. Sup pose that after a lapse of
x minutes the locomotives are separated by the smallest
distance MN = m. The train that left B would by then
have covered the distance BM = 0.8x, since it does 800 mo­
tres, or 0.8 km, a minute. And so OM = 40 - 0.8x. In the

A A

M
50 76
9.6
0 � N D
C N [) C 12.8

M
40

B B

fig. 19 f'ig. 20

same way we lind that ON = 50 - 0.6 x. By the theorem

of Pythagoras,
AI N = m = V OM'+ON' = V (40 - 0 .8x)'+ (50 -0.tix)'.
Squaring both sides of the equation, we get
m = V (40 0.8x) ' + (50 0.6x)'.
Simplifying, wo obtain
x' - 124x + 4100 - m' = O.
Solving this equation for x, we finally have
x = 62 ± V m' - 256.
Since x is the number of minutes and that numbor cannot
be imaginary, it follows that m2 - 256 must be a positive
quantity or at least zero. The latter correspondq to tbe
171
smallest possible value of m, and the.n

m' = 256, or m = 16.

It is obvious that m cannot be less than 11\, for then x
becomes imaginary. And if m' - 256 = 0, then x = 62.
To summarize: the locomotives are closest to euch other
after 62 minutes and the separation will then be 16 km.
Let us now see how they stand at that moment. We com­
pu te the length of OM to be
40 - 62 ·0.8 = -9.6.

The minus sign means that the locomotive has passed the
intersection by 9.6 km. And the distance ON is equal to
50 - 62 ·0.6 = 12.8
which means the second locomotive is 12.8 km short of the
intersection. This p osition of the locomotives is shown in
Fig. 20. As we now see, it doesn't look at all like what
we imagined before we began. The equation turned out to be
very tolerant and despite the incorrect drawing gave us the
proper answer. This tolerance is clearly due to the algebraic
rules for signs.

Planning tile Site of a Flag Station

PROBLEM

Twenty kilometres from a railway line is a hamlet B

(Fig. 21). The problem is to select a siLe for construction
of a flag station C so tha t travelling time from A to B via
railway from A to C and highway from C to B is a minimum.
The rate of travel by rail is 0.8 kilometre a minute and by
highway 0. 2 kilometre a minute.
172
 A c x

Fig. 21

SOLUTION
Denote by a the distance AD (from A to tIlt' foot of the
perpendicular BD to AD) and by x tho distanc" C D . Then
A C � AD CD = a
- -x and CB = YCD ' �I· BD'
= Yx + 20'. The time during which a train covers the
'
distance A C is
AC a-x
0.8 = --0:8 '
The travelling time by highway from C to B is
GB
- y ,' + 20'
0.2 0.2
The time required t o got from A to B is
a-x Vx2. + 202
0.8
_
+- �
0 . 2 :::...
...c..::

This sum. which we denote by Tn, must be the sn"liest

possible .
.

The equation
a-x -V�
--0:8 + 0.2 =m

173
can be cast in the form]
.
-
x -V� a
0.8 -I- 0.2 = m - 0.8 .
Multiplying b y 0.8, we get
-x + 4 V x' + 20' � 0.8 m - a.
Denoting 0 . 8 m - a by k and getting rid of the radical
� ign, we obtain the quadratic equation
15x' - 2kx + 6400 - k' 0, �

whence
k+ V' I M2 -go 000
x= 15
Since k = O.8m - a, it follows that Ii. attains a mInImum
when m is a minimum and conversely. * But for x to be reaC
16k' must be a t least equal to 96 000. Hence that figure
is the smallest we can have for 16k'. Therefore, m becomes
least when
16k' 96 000 =

and sO we see tba t

and, consequently ,
k+0 Y60()()
x � 15 = -
1-
5
- :::; 5.16.
To summarize, then, no matter how long a = AD is,
the flag station must be located at about 5 km from the
point D .
Quite naturally, our solution is meaningful only for
cases where x < a, because when we set up the equation
we regarded the expression a - x as being positive.
If x = a :::; 5.16, then there is no need to build a flag
station at all and the highway will have to be built straight
* Note that k > 0 since
O.8m = a - x + 4 -Vx2 + 202 > a -- x + x= a.

174
to the main station. And the same goes for cases where the
distance a is shorter than 5.16 km.
This time, it turns out, we have more insight than the
equation. If we were to blindly follow the equation, we would
have to construct a flag station right after the station, which
would he nonsense: in that case x > a and therefore the
time
a-x
o.s
during which we travel by rail is nega tive. This is an instruc­
tive example that shows caution is necessary when handl ing
rna thcma tical tools and interpreting resul t8. One must bear
in mind that the final figures may be meaningless if the
promises on which tho usc of those tools is based arc not
properly taken into account.

An Optimal Hi ghway
PROBLEM
A town A is located on a river and we have to send freight
to n, a town located a kilometres downstream and d kilo­
metres "rom the river (Fig. 22). The problem is to locate

Fig. 22

175
a highway between B and the river so that transportation
of goods from A to n is cheapest, taking into consideration
that the transport cosL of a ton-kilometre on the river
is half that by highwa y.
SOLUTIO:\'

We denote the distance AD by x and DB by y: it is given

that AC is equal to 0 and BC is equal to d.
Since highway transport is twice as expensive as river
transport, the sum
x + 2y
must be a minimum in accordance with the requirements of
the problem. We denote this minimum value by m and we
have the equation
x + 2y � m.
But x = a - DC and DC = V y' - d'; and so our equation
becomes
o - V y' - d' + 2y = m
or, after getting rid of the radical sign,
3y' -4 (m - a) y + (m - 0)' + d' = O.
Solving it for y , we get
± Y(m a)'
3
2 3d'
y = ;;; ( m - a)

For y to be real, (m - aJ' must be at least 3d'. The small­

est value of (m - 0)' is equal to 3d' and then
- 2 (m-aHO 2d]/3
m - o = d V 3, y=
3 -- 3 ;
sin LBDC = d ; y , or
. d 2d y:i V3
sm L BDC = y = d : -- = -2- .
3

176
 Now, an angle w]l Ose sine is equal to �;;
is 1300: This mean s
the highway must be sited at an angle of 60° to tbe river,
no matter what the distance AC.
Here again we have the same peculiarity encountered in
tilO preceding problem. The solution is meaningfnl only
lInder a certain condition. If tbe point is located so that tbe
h ighway built at an angle of 60° to the river passes on the
otber side of the town A , then the solution cannot be applied;
in that case the bighway should be built directly between D
and the town A , dispensing with river transport.

When Is�the PI'millet a i'li,ximum?

The solution of a large number of maximum E1nd minimum
problems (that is, seeking the lnrgest and smallest values of
some variable quantity) is ne atly handled by an algebraic
theorem that we now introduce. We reason as follows.
How can a given number be partitioned into two parts
so that the product of the parts is a maximum?
SOL UTION
Suppose the given number is a. Then the parts into which a
is partitioned may be expressed as
Ta + x and T
a
- x,

The number x shows by what amount these parts differ from

; a. The product of both parts is equal to
( -i + x) (-i - x ) : - x2•
= '

The product of the parts will clearly increase as x d im i nishe s,

that is to say, as the difference between the parts decreases.

12-0891 177
And the product will be greatest when x 0 , which is the
a
=

Case when both parts are equal to "2 .

To summarize: the number must be halved-the product of
two numbers whoso sum is invariable will be a maximum
when the numbers are equnl.
Now let us examiuo tho question of three numbers.
How do we partition a given number into three parts so
that the product of the three parts is a maximum?
SOLUTION
We proceed on the basis of the foregoing problem.
Suppose a number a is partitioned into three parts. To
start with, we assume tha t no part is equal to -i- . Then there
will be a largest part greater than -i- ( all three of them can­
not be loss than ;) ; we express it as
a
3 + x.

There also will be a smallest part, less than ; , which we

express as
a-
3
Y'

The numbers x and y are positive. The third' part will obvi­
ously be
a
3 + Y - x.

The numbers ; and -r + x - y have the same sum as the

first two parts of the number a, while the difference between
them, or x - y, is less than the di fference between the first
two parts, which difference is equal to x + y . As we know
from the solution of the preceding problem, it follows that
178
the product
� (';:3 + x -. y )
3

exceeds the product of the iirst two parts of a.

Thus, if we replace the first two parts of the number a
b y the numbers
a
.1
- and -3a ---L x - y
and leave the third part unchanged, then the product will
increase.
Now let one of the parts be equal to ; . Then the other
two will look like this:
a a
3+z and 3 - z .
I f we make the last two parts equal to ; (their sum does
not change of course), then tll C product will again increase
and become equal to
3 ' 3 ' 3 = 27 '
a a a a3

To summarize: if tho number a is partitioned into three

�
unequa I parts, then the product of the parts IS less than 2'i '
.

that is to say, than the product of three equal factors forming

a sum equal to a .
J n similar fashion we can prove this theorem for jour
factors, for five factors and so forth.
Now let us consider a more general casco
The problem is to find values of x and y such that the ex­
pression xPy' is largest if x + y � a.
SOLUTIO:\,
For what value of x does the expression
xP (a - x)'
12' 179
roach a maximum?
1
Multiply this expression by the number p-
p q
to get 0 new
q
expression
xV (a-x}q
pP q<l
which will obviously attain a maximum value whenevor tho
original expression docs.
Let us represent the expression thus obtained as
x x x x a-x a-x a-x
p p p p q q q

p times q times
'-v-' ��---

Tho sum of all factors of this expression is equal to

x x x a-x a-x
'p + p + p + ' " + -- + -- + ' "
q q
p timu q timM
-----� ----�--

px q
-'-'-:----'- = x + a - x = a ,
_ + (a-x)
q p
that is, the quantity is a constant.
On the basis of what has been proved above (pp. 177·178)
we conclude that the product
x x x a-x a-x a-x
q q
-
q
- 0 0 -

p p p
reaches a maximum when all its separate factors are equal,
that is, when
x a-x
p q
Knowing that a x =
- y, we obtain (after a simple mani­
pUlation) the proportion
x p
-
y q '

180
 Thus, the product xPy' attains a maximum (given the
constant sum x + y) when
x ; y = p ; q.
In the same fashio l we can prove that the products
xPyqzr, xPyqzTtU and so forth
(given the constant sums x � y + z, x + y + z + t and
so on) attain maximum values whenever
x : y : z = p : q : r, x:y:z : l = p:q:r:u and so on.

When Is the Sum a Miuimum:'

The reader who would like to test himself in proving useful
algebraic theorems can try his hand a t proving the following
propositions:
1. The sum of two numbers whose product is invariable
becomes a m inimum when the numbers are equal.
For example, take the product 36: 4 + 9 13, 3 + 12 =
=

= 15, 2 + 18 = 20, 1 + 36 = 37 and, finally, 6 + 6 12.

=

2. The sum of several numbers whoso product is a constant

becomes a minimum when tho numbers are eqwll.
For example, take the product 216: 3 + 12 + 6 2 1 , 2+=

+ 18 + 6 = 26, 9 + 6 + 4 = 19, yet 6 + 6 + 6 18.

=

The following are some cases where these theorems find

pra ctical a pplica tion .

A Beam of U
l aximulII Volume
PROBLEM
The problem is to saw out of a cylindrical log a rectangular
beam of largest volume. Find the shape of the cross section
it will have (Fig. 23).
181
 }'ig. 23

SOLUTION
If the sides of tho rectangular cross section aro x and y,
then by the Pytllagorean theorem we have
' '
x + y � d'
where d is the diameter of the log. The volume of the beam
is a maximum when the area of its cross section is a maxi­
mum, that is, when xy becomes a maximum. Now if xy
is a maximum, then so is the product x2y2 . Since the sum
2 2
x + y is constant, it follows by what has been already
proved that the product x'y' is the largest possible one when
x2 = y2 or x = y.
Hence the cross section of the beam must be a square.

Two Plots of Land

PRORLEMS
1. What shape must a rectangHlar plot of land of a given
area have for the length of fence bounding it to be a mini­
mum?
2. What shape must a rectangular plot of land have for the
area to be a maximum for a given length of fence?
SOLUTIONS
1. The shape of the rectangular plot depends on the rela­
tionship of its sides x and y. The area of a plot with sides x
and y is xy, and the length of the fence around the plot is
182
2x + 2y. The fonce will be of minimum length if x + y
attains a minimum.
For a constant product xy, tho sum x + y is a minimum
when x equals y . Consequently, the sought-for rectangle is a
square.
2. If x and y aro the sides of a rectangle, then the length
of the fence is 2x + 2y and the area is xy. The product will
be a maximum at the same time that the product 4xy (or
2x . 2y) is. Now the latter product, given a constant sum
of its factors, 2x + 2y, becomes a maximum when 2x = 2y,
which is when the plot is a square.
To the familiar properties of a square that we learned in
geometry we can add the following: of all rectangles the
square has the smallest perimeter for a given area and the
largest area for a given perimeter.

ltIakill!J a Kite
PROBLEM
We have a kite in the shape of a circular sector and it is
required to change the shape so that it will have the largest
possible area for the given perimeter. What will tho shape of
the sector be?
SOLUTION

Let us make more explicit the requirements of the prob­

lem: for what relationship between the length of the arc of
the sector and its radius will the area attain a maximum for
the given perimeter?
If the radius of the sector is equal to x and the arc is y,
then the perimeter I and the area S will be expressed as (see
Fig. 24) :
1 = 2x + !-I,
,= .!.!L x (1-2x)
� � .
S
=

183
The quantity S reaches a maximum for the same value of x a s
the product 2x (l - 2x) , which is four times the area. Since
the sum of the factors 2x + (I 2x) = I is a constant quan­
-

tity, their product is a maximum when 2x = l - 2x, whence

I
x = T;
I I
y = I - 2 ' 7; = z ,

To summarize: for a given perimeter, the sector encloses the

largest area when its radius is half the arc (or, the length

t'ig. 24

of the arc is equal to the sum of the radii, or the length of

the curvilinear portion of the perimeter is equal to the length
of the broken line). The angle of the sector is approximately
e,ual to 115°, or two radians. How the kite will fly is quite
a d ifferent matter--somcthing we won't go into.
184
 Building a House
PROBLEM

Using one whole wall of a house that was partially de­

stroyed� we wish to build a new house. The one remaining
whole wall is 12 metres long. The area of the new house is to
be 112 square metres. The conditions of work are as follows:
(1) repairing one linear metre of wall comes to 25% of
laying down a now wall;
(2) dismantling one linear metre of the old wall and laying
down a new wall using the material of the old wall will cost
50% of what constructing a linear metre of wall using new
materials would como to.
What is the best way to make use of the old wall?
SOLUTION

Suppose x metres of the old wall are retained and the re­
maining 1 2 - x metres are dismantled so that the materials
obtained are used again in the construction of a part of the
wall of the new house (Fig. 25). If the cost of laying a lineor

12-'

Fig. 25

185
metre of wall using new material is equal to a) then repair­
ing x metres of the old wall will cost ;: ; erecting a portion
a (12 -x)
of length 12 - x will cost 2 ; the cost of the remain­
ing portion of that wall will be a [y (12 - x)] or a (y +
-

+ x - 12); the cost of the third wall is ax, of the fourth

wall, ay. Altogether, the work will cost
ax a (12-x)
T+ + a (y + x - 12) + ax + ay
2

This expression is a minimum whenever the following sum

is:
7x + 8y.
We know that the floor area xy of the house is 1 12; hence,
7x ·8y = 56 · 112.
Given a constant product, the sum 7x + 8y reaches a
minimum when
7x = 8y
and so we have
7
Y = g x.

Putting this expression for y into the equation

xy = 112,
we get

And since the length of the old wall is 12 metres, we have

to dismantle only 0.7 metre of that wall.
1 86
 Fcncing i n a Lot
P H ODLEM

The construction of :1 summer cottage is to be undertaken.

The first step is to fence off the plot of land. There is enough
material for 1 linear metres of fence. Also, a portion of an
earlier built high wooden fence can be used for one side of
the lot. Under these conditions, find a way to fence off a
rectangular lot of largest possible area.
SOLUTION

Suppose the portion along the high fence (seo Fig. 26) is
x, while the width (that is, the dimension of the lot perpen­
dicular to tho high wooden fenco) is equal to y. Thon x + 2y

Fig. 26
metros of fencing is needed to enclose that portion, so that
x + 2y = I.
Tho area of the lot is oqual to
S = xy y (I - 2y).
=

187
It altains a maximum value at the same time that the quan­
tity
2y (l - 2y)
tloes. This is twice the area and is a product of two factors
with a constant sum I. And so to obtain the greatest area we
must have
2y = 1 - 2y
whence
I I
y -= 4 ' x = I - 2y = z ·
In other words, x = 2y, or the length of the plot must be
twice its width.

A Trough of Ma:ximu m Cross Section

PROBLEM
A rectangular sheet of metal (Fig. 27) is to be bent into
tho shape of a trough with cross section having the form of
an equilateral trapezoid. This can be done in a variety of

I
t'ig. 28

Fig. 27 Fig. 29

188
ways, as shown in Fig. 28. Of what width must the lateral
strips be and at wbat angle are they to be bent for tho cross
section of the trough to have the maximum area (Fig. 29)?
SOLUTION

Let the width of the shoet be l. We denote the wid th of

the bent side strips by x and the width of the bottow of the
trough by y. Let us introduce another unknown z; its meaning
is clear from the drawing in Fig. 30.

Fig. 30

Tho area of the trapezoid that represents tho cross soction

of the trough is
S= (z + U-;Z) + U V x2 _ Z2 = Y (y + z)' (x2 _ Z2) .
The problem reduces to determining thoso values of x, y,
z for which S attains a maximum value; note that the sum
2x + y (that is, the width of the sheet) retains a constant
valuo I. After a few simplifying manipulations, wo get
SZ = (y I Z)2 (x -I- z) (x - z).
82 is a maximum for the same values of x,
- -

The quantity
y, z, as 3S2, and the latter Can be exprossed as a product:
(y -I- z) (y -I- z) (x -I- z) (3x - 3z).
The sum of these four factors,
y -I- z -I- y -I- z -I- x -I- z -I- 3x - 3z = 2 y -I- 4x = 21,

189
is a constant. Therefore the product 01 our lour factors is a
maximum when they are equal to each other, or
y + z � x + z and x + z � 3x - 3z .
From the first equation we have
y = X,

and sinco y + 2x � I, it follows that x = y =�

3

From tho second oquation we find

Furthormoro, since tho leg z is oqual to half tho hypotenuse

x (Fig. 30) , the angle opposite that leg is equal to 30', and
tho angle of inclination of tho sidos of tho trough to the bot­
tom is equal to 90° + 30' = 120'.
Summarizing, we seo that the trough will have a maximum
cross section when its faces are bent into the shape of three
adjacent sidos of a regular hexagon.

A Fuuuel of Maxi mum Capacity

PROBLEM
A circular tin disc is used to make the conical portion of
a funnel. For this purpose (see Fig. 31), a sector is cut out
and tho remaining portion is twisted into a con�. How many
dogrees must thoro bo in tho arc of tho cut-out soctor so that
the cone is of maximum capacity?
SOLUTION
Denote by x tho length (in linoar moasuro) of tho arc of
that portion of the circle that is twistod into a cone. Thus,
the radius R of the tin disc will be the generatrix of the cono,
190
 �'ig . 31

and the base circle will be equal to x. We determine the ra­

d ius r of the base of the cone from the equation
2:rtr = x,
x
whence r = 2n '

The altitude of the cone (by the Pythagoras theorem) is

H � V -- r2 � VrR2
R2 - - _
x'
4n'
_

(Fig. 31). For the volume of the cone we have

V - n r2H n (X) x,
l ' R' - W
- ""3 - ""3 21t I ·
"
_

This expression becomes a maximum whenever the expres­

sion

and its square

do.
j91
 Since
( -,,-
2n
- ) 2 + R2 - ( -"--
2n
) ' = RZ
is a constant, it follows (on the basis of what was proved on
pp. 179-181) that the last product is a maximum for the
value of x when
( 2il
X
) [. R2_ ( 2il
2
:
X 'J
) = 2: 1
and from this
( 2: ) 2 = 2R2 _ 2 ( 2Xn ) 2,

3 ( : r 2R'
" = and x= f2; R V 6 "" 5. 15R.
In degrees, the arc x "" 2950 and, hence, the arc of the
sector that was cut out must contain �65°.

Tile Uriglltest Illumination

PROBLEM
A candle is on a table (Fig. 32). At what height above the
Lable must the fl ame be so as to best illuminate a coin lying
on the table?
A

� )
�
M e B N

Fig. 32

192
 SOLUTION
It might seem that the lower the flame the better. This h
not so: in a low position of the flame of the candle , the rays
fall at a very sloping angle. But if the candle is high and
the rays fall at a sharp angle, then the light source is too
far away. The best illumination is clearly at some interme­
diate height of the flame above the table. We denote it by x
(Fig. 32). And we use a to denote the distance BC of the
coin B from the foot C of a perpendicular passing through
the flame A . If the brightness of the flame is i, then the
illumination of the coin is given, by tho laws of optics, as
i t cos a
COS " =
AS' ("V a' + x'l'
where " is the angle of incidence of a pencil of rays AB.
Since
x
cos ex = cos A = -=-
AS = -Va2 .� x2.
it follows that the illumination is

This expression roaches a maximum for tho sam e val ue of

x as its squaro, or
(a2+x2) 3 .
The fa ctor i2 is dropped since it is a constant ; the remainirg
part of the expression is then transfor med as follows:

�x2)3 - � )
(a2 (X2 (/Z)2 ( 1 - x2��a2
)2 (
1-
a'
= ( x2 +a2 ).
1
x Z + a2

\3-089\ 193
 The transformed expression roaches a maximum together
with the expression

( x'�a' ) ' ( 1 - x'�a ) '

since the constant factor a1 that was introduced does· not

affect the value of x for which the product attains its maxi­
mum value. Noting that the sum of the flfSt powers of these
factors,
X2�a2 (1- X2�(L3' )
+ =
1,
is a constant, we conclude that the product at hand is a
maximum when
-x"
a'
+-a'2 : (
'''' 1 - r(2
x2+ a:! )=2:1
(see pp. 179-181).
We have the equation
a' � 2x' + 2a' - 2a'.
Solving this equation, we fmd that
X= ;;2 "" O.71a.
The coin is best illuminated when the light source is at
a height of 0.71 of the d istance from the projection of the
source to the coin. Knowing this relation helps in arranging
proper lighting of one's work place.
 Chapter eight
PROGltESSIONS

'file !llost Ancient 1"l'o bicm Dcaling

witlt Pi'ogrclSsions
PROBLEM
The oldest problem involving progressions is not that of
awarding tho inventor of chess-over two thom,and years ago.
There is a much older problem that has to do with dividing
loaves of bread and is recorded in the famous Rhind papyrus
of Egypt. This papyrus which was discovered by Rhind at the
end of last century was written about 2000 years B . C. and
is an excerpt from a still more ancient mathematical text
that perhaps belongs to the third millenium before oUl" era.
Included among the arithmetical , algebraic and geometric
problems of that document is the following one which we
give in a free translation:
Divide one hundred loaves of bread among five persons so
that the second one receives as much more than the first as
the third receives more than the second, and the fourth more
than the third, and the fifth more than the fourth. Besides,
the first two are to receive 7 times less than the three others.
How much is to be given to each?
SOLUTION
Clearly, the loaves obtained by those participating in
the division constitute an increasing arithmetic sequence
(progression). Let the first term be x and the difference y .
Then
the portion of the first man is . x
the portion of the second man is x+y
the portion of the third man i s x + 2y
the p ortion of the fourth man is x + 3y
the portion of the fifth man is x + 4y

'" 195
 Using the conditions given in the problem, we set up the
following two equations:
{X + tx + y) + (x + 2y) -+ (x -I- 3y) -+ (x -+ 4y) = 100,
7 Ix + (x + y)J = (x + 2y) + (x + 3y) + (x + 4y).

After simpl ifiCations the first equat.ion looks like this:

x + 2y = 20,
and the second like this:
l 1x = 2y.
Solving this system of equa tions, we obtain
2 1
x = 1 3, y=9s'

And so the loaves of bread are to be divided into the follow­

ing portions:
2 5 1 1
1 '3 ' lO s' 20, 29 6 , 38 '3 '

Alnebra on Squared Paper

Despite the nearly 50 centuries that this problem in
progression has been around, it found its way into school
only a relatively short while ago. Take the Russian textbook
of Magnitsky published two hundred years ago that served
as the standard school text for half a century; here, progres­
sions are given, but thore are no general formulas relating
the quantities involved. For that reaSOD, even the writer of
the textbook himself found such problems hard. Yet it is so
easy to derive the formula for the sum of the terms of an
arithmetic progression in a simple and pictorial manner with
the aid of squared paper. On such paper, any arithmetic pro­
gression can be depicted as a step-like figure. For example,
1 96
the diagram ABDC in Fig. 33 depicts the progression
2, 5, 8, 11, 14.
J n order to determine the sum of its terms, fill out the
diagram to complete the rectangle ABGE. We then have

B D
I

----+- - ± - - - -
I
-- +
I I
j
I
G

t
-
I.
- -- -- -- -- -- g
-- -
_ _

Iii. .! .f
2
-- - - t
-- - I -- :
----

. }I �
I
..
£
.J ..L 3
-- - I
--

I
-' ------1

- � ..l
4 I ;:
r-
I
.l. __
I
�

c - - II
5
_
_

�
I
A

I--- -�

- I I I

Fig. 33

two equal figures: ABDC and DGEC. The area of each de­
scribes the sum of the terms of our progression. Hence, the
double sum of the progression is equal to the area of the
rectangle ABGE, or
(AC + CE) ·AB.
But AC + CE gives the sum of the flfSt and fifth terms of
the progression; A B is the number of terms in the progres­
sion. Therefore, the double sum:
28 = (the sum of the extreme tenns) . (the number of terms)
or
s _ (first term +-- last term) .(number of terms)
- .
2

197
 Watel'ing the Garden
PROBLEM
Thore are 30 rows in a garden, each row 16 metres in length
and 2.5 metres in width. The gardener waters his garden by
hauling pails of water from a well 14 metres from the edge
of the garden, and then walks between the rows. One trip
to the well su1nces to water only one row.
What distance does the gardener cover in watering the
whole garden? The start and nnish are at the well.
SOLUTION
To water the flfst row, the gardener covers the d istance
14 + 16 + 2.5 + 16 + 2.5 -+ 14 � 65 metres.
In watering tho second row, he covers
14 + 2.5 -I- 16 + 2.5 + 16 + 2.5 + 2.5 + 14 � 65 +
+ 5 � 70 metres.
Each subsequent row requires 5 metros more to be covered
than the preceding one. We then get the progression
65, 70, 75; . . . ; 65 + 5 ·29.
The sum of the terms of the progression equals
(65+65 ·�29·5) 30
2
4125 metres.
In all, the gardener covers a distance of 4.125 km in
watering his garden.

Feeding Chi ckcns

PROBLEM
A certain amount of feed has been stored for 31 chicken s,
to be used at the rate of one decalitre (10 litres) per chicken
per week. There was to be no change in the number of
198
chickens. But since there was a decrease of one chicken
every week, the feed lasted twice as long as planned.
What was the original supply of feed and for what period
was it planned?
SOLUTION
Suppose x decali tres of feed was stored for y weeks. Since
it was calculated for 31 chickens at the rate of 1 decalitre
per chicken per week, we have
x � 31y.
During the first week, 31 decalitres was used up, during
the second 3D, during the third 29, and so on up to the last
week of twice the originally planned period. The amount of
feed consumed in the . last week came to
(31 - 2y + 1) decalitres.·
The total supply thus came to
x � 31y � 31 + 30 + 29 + . . . + (31 - 2y + 1).
The sum of 2y terms of the progression, the first term of
which is 3 1 and the� la�t term is 31 - 2y + l, is equal to
31y (31 + 31-;;2"+ 1 ) 2" (63 - 2y) y.
Since y cannot be zero, we have every right to divide
through by that factor. And we get
31 = 63 - 2y and y � 16,

" Given week by week, we have:

1s t week 31 decalitres,
2nd week 31 -1 dccalitres,
3rd week 31-2 dccali tres,
2y-ih ·w�ek '31'�(2Y�1) �'31'----': 2Y + 1 dedalitres.

199
whence
x � 3ly � 496.
The supply that was put in came to 496 decalitres of feed
calculated \0 last 16 weeks.

A '1'eam of lUggers
PROBLEM

The senior-class boys at a school took upon themselves

the d igging of a ditch in the school yard and organized a
team of diggers. If the team had worked all at once, the ditch
would have been ready in 24 hours. Actually, however, only
one boy began. After a time, another boy joined him, and
then-again after the same amount of time-a third boy
joined in, then a fourth, and so on up to the last one. It was
found that the first had worked 11 times longer than the last.
Row much time did the last boy work?
SOLUTION

Suppose the last member of the team worked x hours.

Then the first one worked iix hours. Now if the number of
d iggers was y, then the total number of hours of work will
be expressed as the sum of y terms of a decreasing progres­
sion, the first term of which is 11x and the last term is x, or
(l1x+") y 6xy.
2

On the other hand it is known that a team of y boys work­

ing all together would be able to dig the ditch in 24 hours,
which means 24y working hours is needed to complete the
job.
Conseq uent] y,
6xy 24y.
�

200
 The number y cannot be zero and so we can cancel it out
of the equation to get
6x = 24
and
x = 4.

This means the last one of the tea m to start working was
busy 4 hours.
We have found the answer to the problem, but if we had
been curious enough to ask how many participated in the
work, we wouldn't have been able to say, despite the fact
that that number entered into the equation (it was y). It is
merely that there is not enough information in the hypothe­
sis of the problem to get that answer.

Apples
PROBLEM
A man has an apple orchard and sells to his first customer
half of all the apples plus half an apple; to tho second cus­
tomer he sells half of the rest plus half an apple; to the
third, half of the remainder plus half an apple, and so on.
To the seventh customer he sells half of what remains and
another half-apple. And that is all he had. How many apples
did the farmer start out with?
SOLUTION
Use x to denote the original number of apples; then the
first customer received
x+ 1 x+1
-2-
_.

2 2-
the second customer,
1. ( _ x + l ) + 1. = x + l
2 x 2 2 P '

201
the third,
x+1 x + + -.!. = I) x+1
(
2 x 2 4 2 23 1
_ _

-.!.
and the seventh customer bought
x+1
---v- .
We thus have the following equation:
x+l x+1 + x+1 + + x+1 =
- 2- + � 23 . . . 2" x
or
(1 1 1 )
(x + 1) 2+ 2' + y, + . . . + 2' = x.
1

Computing the sum of the terms of the geometric progression

in the parentheses, we get
x 1
x+I = 1 - y,
and
x = 2' - 1 = 127.
Altogether there were 127 apples.

Buying a norse
PROBLEM
In the old Russian arithmetic of Magnitsky we fmd an
amusing problem that I give here in a translation into
modern language.
Somebody sold a horse for 156 rubles. However the buyer,
after all, decided not to take the horse and so returned it
to its owner with the words:
"Thero is no point in my taking this horse for such a price
because the animal is just not worth it."
202
 Then the owner suggested the following.
"If the price of my horse is too high, then buy only the
horseshoe nails, and then I'll give you the horse free of
charge. There are six nails in each horseshoe. For the first
nail you give me only + of a kopeck, for the second � , for
the third 1 kopeck, and so on."

Fig. 34

The client was mighty pleased to hear such a low price

and, wishing to get the horse free of charge, agreed to the
conditions of tho owner, nguring that he would Jlot have to
pay more than 10 rubles altogether.
How much did the buyer lose in this deal?
203
 SOLUTION

For 24 horseshoe nails he had to pay

{ + } + 1 + 2 + 22 +2'+ . . . + 224-3
kopecks. This is equal to
1
22.1 . 2-4
2 1
222 _ 4
1 = 3
4 194 303 4 kopecks

or about 42 000 rubles. With a price like that, there is no

need to worry about the horse going free of charge.

Paying 101' the \Vounds 01 a Soldier

P H OBLEM

Another old Hussian textbook of mathematics that goes b y

the lengthy title A Complete Course i n Pure Mathematics
Compiled by Cadet of A rtillery and Special Mathematics
Teacher Efim Voityalchovslcy for the Benefit and Use of the
Youth and Those Practising Mathematics (1795) offers this
problem:
A soldier was rewarded for each wound received in battle:
for the first wound he got 1 kopeck, for the second 2 kopecks,
for the third 4 kopecks, and so on. When the complete calcu­
lation was made, it was found that the soldier was rewarded
the sum of 655 rubles and 35 kopecks. We want to know the
number of wounds he received.
SOLUTION

We set up the equation

65 535 = 1 + 2 - 1-22 + 2' + . . . + 2"-1

204
or

and from this we fmd

65 536 = 2x and x = 16.
This result can be easily found by running through the se­
quence.
With this generous system of payment, a soldier has to
get 16 wounds and be still alive in order to reap his reward of
655 rubles and 35 kopecks.
 Chapter nine

THE SEVEN'l'1I lUATIIEJlIATICAL

OPERATION

"'he Seventh 0peI'ation

We have already mentioned that the fifth operation­
raising to a power-has two inverse operations. If
ab = c

then finding a is one inverse (extraction of a root) and find­

ing b is the other inverse; (taking logarithms). I am sure the
reader has some basic knowledge of logarithms from his
school studies. He would probably have no difflculty in figur­
ing out the meaning of the following expression:

It is easy to see that if the base a of logarithms is raised

to the power of the logarithm of the number b, then the result
must be tho number b.
Why were logarithms invented? To speed up and simplify
calculations, naturally. The inventor of the first tables of
logarithms, Napier, spoke of the impulse to his work, saying
he had tried to the best of his ability to remove the diffiCUl­
ties and boredom of calculation, which ordinarily is so
tiresome as to frighten away many from the study of matlle­
matics.
Indeed, logarithms simplify and speed up calculations to
a remarkable degree, to say nothing of the fact that they
make it possible to perform operations that would otherwise
be extremely d ifficult (extracting high-index roots) .
. With
tion
full justification, Laplace could write that the inven­
of logarithms, by reducing the amount of calculation
206
from the work of months to that 01 days, actually doubled the
life of astronomers. The great mathematician spoke of astro­
nomers because it was their lot to carry out particularly
complicated and arduous computations. But his words can
justly be applied to everyone who has to deal with numeri­
cal computations.
Today we are used to logarithms and to the extent to
which they simplify the computation process and so it is
hard to imagine the wonder and excitement they caused
when they nrst appeared. A contemporary of Napier's,
Henry Briggs, who later came to fame through the inven­
tion of common (based on ten) logarithms, wrote the following
in a letter after having read Napier's work: "Napper lNa­
pierI, lord of Markillston, hatll set my head and hands a work
with his nOw and admirable logarithms. I hope to seo him this
summer, if it please God, for I never saw book which pleased
me better, or made me more wonder.1 ! Briggs set out for
Scotland to visit the inventor of logarithms. When they
met, Briggs began: "My lord, J have undertaken this long
journey purposely to see your person, and to know by what
engine of wit or ingenuity you came first to think of this
most excellent help in astronomy, viz. the logarithms;
but, my lord, being by you found out, J wonder nobody found
it out before, when now known it is so easy."

�ls of Logarithms
Before the invention of logarithms, the requirements of
speedy calculations gave rise to tables of a different kind
in which the operation of multiplication is replaced by sub­
traction instead of addition. These tables are based on the
identity
(a+b)' (a- b)'
ab -
-
4 4

207
All one needs to do is open the brackets to see that the iden­
tity holds.
Having ready at hand the fourths of squares, one call fmd
the product of two numbers without performing the multipli­
cation but simply by subtracting the fourth of the square of
the difference of the numbers from that of their sum.
The same tables simplify squaring numbers and taking the
square roots of numbers, and when combined with a table of
reciprocals, they simplify the operation of division as well.
Their advantage over logarithmic tables is that they yield
exact, not approximate, results. On the other hand, however,
they are inferior to logarithmic tables i n a number of ways
which are of more practical importance. Whereas tables of
the fourths of squares permit multiplying only two numbers,
logarithms enable one to find at once the product of any num­
ber of factors, and , what is morc, to raise a number to any
power and extract foots having arbitrary indices (integral
and fractional). For example, it is impossible to compute
compound interest with the aid of tables of fourths of
squares.
Even so, tables of fourths of squares continued to be
published after the appearance of a great variety of loga­
rithmic tables. In 1856, a set of tables appeared in France
entitled:
A table of the squares of numbers from 1 to 1000 million
with the aid of which one can find the exact product of numbers
by an extremely Simple procedure that is more convenient than
by means of logarithms. Compiled by A lexander Cassar.
This very idea pops up time and again without their
inventors realizing that it is an old one. I personally was
approached b y two inventors of similar tables and they were
greatly surprised to learn that their invention was already
over three hundred years old.
A different and younger rival of logarithms are the COID­
putation tables of most engineering reference works. These
are combination tables with columns of squares, cubes, square
208
roots ! cube roots, reciprocals! circumferences and areas of
circles for numbers from 2 to 1000. Such tables are very
convenient for many engineering calculations but they are
not always suffICient. Logarithmic tables have a far broader
range of application.

The Evolution of Logari thmic Tables

Not so long ago Soviet schools used five-place logarithmic
tables. They have now gone over to four-place tables because
these are quite sufficient for engineering calculations. But
for most practical needs, even three-place mantissas are
suitable. The point is that only rarely do measurements in­
volve more than three decimal places.
The idea that shorter mantissas would suflice was real­
ized just recently. I can remember a time when we used hefty
tomes of seven-place logarithms in school . They were later
replaced by nve-place tables after a stubborn struggle. But
even the seven-place logarithms seemed to be an outrageous
innovation when they appeared in 1794. The first common
logarithms created by the energy of tl10 London mathemati­
cian Henry Briggs (1624) were 14-place. A few years later
they were supplanted by the ton-place tables of the Dutch
mathematician Adrian Vlacq.
As we have seen, the evolution of practical logarithmic
tables has been in the direction from mantissas Witll many
decimal places to fewer and fewer decimal places, and the
trend is still in progress today because many people do not
Tealize the simple fact that the accuracy of. computations
cannot exceed that of the measurements.
Shortening the mantissas brings about two important
practical results: (1) a much smaller volume of the tables
and (2) a concomitant simplification in their use, which of
course means faster calculations. Seven..place logarithms
of numbers take up about 200 large-size pages, five-place
209
logarithms take up only 30 pages of a much smaller size
book; four-place logarithms are ten times shorter, occupying
only two large-size pages, and three-place logarithms fit into
a single page.
Now as to speed of calculation, it has been found that for
instance a calculation via fIve-place tables requires only
one third the time seven-place tables do.

Logarithmic-'1'able Champions
Whereas the computational needs of practical life and
general engineering are quite satisIied with three- and four­
place tables, the tbeoretician has need for tables witb many
more places than even the fourteen-place logarithms of
Briggs. Generally speaking, in most cases a logarithm is an
irrational number and cannot be exactly expressed by any
number of digits; the logarithms of most numbers are given
only approximately, no matter how many decimal places
are taken-the larger the num.ber of decimal places in the
mantissa , the more exact the result. Evon the Briggsian four­
teen-place tables* prove insufflCient for some scientifIC work.
However, the researcher will nOvor go unsatisfied, for among
the 500 various types of logarithmic tables that have ap­
peared since logarithms were invented there will definitely be
one that can bandle the job. Let us take, for example, the
twenty-place logarithms of numbers from 2 to 1200 that
were published in France by Callet (1795). For smaller ranges
of numbers there are tables of logarithms with fantastic
numbers of decimal places. There are giants that many mathe­
maticians have never even suspected existed.
Here is a short list of the champion logarithms (they are
all natural logarithms, not common logarithms) : "
*' The fourteen-place logarithms of Briggs are, incidentally, avail­
able only for the numbers from 1 to 20 000 and from 90 000 to 101 000.
** Natural logarithms use the base 2.718 . . . (instead of 10). They
are discussed later on.

210
 48-place tables of Wolfram for the numbers up to 10 000;
61-place tables of Sharp;
102-place tables of Parkhurst;
and, finally, the logarithmic wonder of them all: the
260-place logarithms of Adams.
The last case, to be exact, is not a table but only the so··
called na tural logarithms of five numbers: 2, 3 , 5, 7 and 10
and the 260-decimal conversion factor for converting them
to common logarithms. But it is easy to see that Witll the
logarithms of these fIve numbers it is possible, via simple
addition or multiplication, to obtain the logarithms of a
multitude of composite numbers; for example, the logarithm
of 12 is equal to the sum of the logarithms of 2, 2 and 3, and
so forth.
Another logarithmic marvel is the slide rule ("wooden
logarithmsll) but it has become so common a counting tool of
the engineer as to be on the level of yesteryear's abacus
among clerical workers. The slide rule is such a routine tool
we are no longer amazed that while it operates on the prin­
ciple of logarithms, the user need not evOn know what a loga­
rithm is.

Logarithms on the Stage

One of the most amazing feats performed on the stage by
professional calculators is the one where the lightning cal­
culator offers to mentally work out the high-index roots of
multidigit numbers. At home you arduously calculate the
31st power of some number and are prepared to knock out
the calculating virtuoso with a 35-digit leviathan. At the
right moment you ask the calculator:
"Try to find the 31st root of the following 35-digit number.
Write it down as J dictate."
The calculator takes a piece of chalk and before you have
opened your mouth with the fIrst digit he has already writ­
ten down the result: 13.
211
 Without even knowing the number, he extracted the 31st
root in his head and with lightning speed!
You sit flabbergasted, yet there is nothing at all super­
natural in this feat. The secret is that there is only one
number, namely 13, which, raised to the power of 31, yields a
3.5-digit result. Numbers less than 13 produce fewer than
35 digits, those greater than 13 generate more digits.
Rut how did the calculator know that? How did he find
the number 13? Very simply, with the aid of logarithms,
two-digit logarithms that he had learned by heart for the
first 15 to 20 numbers. It is no trouble at all to memori ze
them, especially if one bears in mind that the logarithm of
a composite number is equal to the sum of the logarithms
of its prime factors. Knowing the logarithms of 2, 3 and i
.
10
(recall that log 5 � log 2" � 1 - log 2), you already know
the logarithms of the first ten numbers; for the second ten,
one has to memorize tho logarithms of another four numbers.
At any rate, the l ightning calculator of the stage has in
his memory the following table of two-digit logarithms:

1\umber
I Lo,;arithm
I Nllmber
I Log�rithm

2 0 .30 11 1 .04
3 0 .48 12 1 . 08
4 0 . 60 13 1 . 11
5 0 . 70 ! 14 1 . 15
15 1 . 18
I
6 0 . 78
7 0 .85 16 1 .20
8 0 .90 ! 17 1 .23
9

!I
U .95 18 1 .26
19 \ . 28

212
 The mathematical trick that amazed you is this:
log '1'(:55 digits) � s.\3; . . .
The desired logarithm can lie between
� and 3�'190 or between 1 . 09 and 1 . 13.
In this interval we have the logarithm of only one whole
number, namely 1 . 1 1 ; it is the logarithm of 13. That is
exactly how the startling result was found. True, to do all
this mentally in a flash requires the training and skill and
wit of the professional, but essentially it is quite simple,
as you can see. Tricks of this kind are now within your grasp,
if not mentally then at least on paper.
Suppose you are asked to find the 64th root of a 20-digit
number.
Without even asking for the number you can state the
result of the extraction: the root is 2.
Y
Indeed, log ; (20 digits) � 1964, .
Consequently, i t lies
between � and 1�499 , or between 0.29 and 0 . 32 . There is
only one such logarithm for a whole number: 0.30 . . . , or the
logarithm of the number 2.
You can even demolish your questioner by telling him what
number he was about to propose: the famous chess number
2" � 18 446 744 073 709 .5.5 1 616.

Logarithms on a Stock-Raising FaI'lIl

P H OB L EM

The a � Ollnt of the so-called maintenance ration (that is

.
the mlmmum feed required to maintain the needs of the
body for heat emission, t.he funct.ioning of the internal organs,
213
the restoration of dying cells, and so forth)' is proportional to
tho surface area of the animal. Knowing this, determine the
calorific value of maintenance feed for an ox weighing 420 ki­
lograms if under the same conditions an ox weighing 630 ki­
lograms requires 13 500 calories.
SOLUTION
To work out this practical problem of stock farming, we
will need some geometry in addition to algebra. I t is given
that the desired calorific value x is proportional to the
surface (s) of the ox, or
x

where s, is the surface area of an ox weighing 630 kg.

Geometry says that the surface areas (8) of similar bodies are
in the same ratio as the squares of their linear dimensions
(I), and the volumes (hence, the weights) are in the same
ratio as the cubes of their linear dimensions. Therefore
420
630 and, honce,

From this we get

x 420' V (!.G'2300 ) = V(.!3 )
13500 = f'V630' = 2
' .

x = 1:1 500 V - ;.
Using a table of logarithms, we fmd that
x = 10 300.
Which means the ox requires 10 :1 00 calories.
*' In contrast to the "productive" ration, which is the part that
goes to build up the animal for slaughter.
 Logarithms ill Music
Musicians do not often take a liking to· mathematics; most
of them respect the science but prefer to stay away from it.
Yet even those musicians who do not verify "harmony by
means of algebra" (like Pushkin's Salieri) come into contact
with mathematics much more frequently than they even
suspect; what is more, their contact is with such frightful
things as logarithms.
I permit myself here a short quotation from an article b y
the later physicist Professor A . Eichenwald. I t appeared in
the Russian Astronomical Calendar for 1.91.9 and was entitled
"On Large and Small D istances".
"A friend of mine from Gymnasium days liked to play the
piano but detested mathematics. He spoke with a touch of
scorn about music and mathematics having nothing what­
soover in common. 'Truo, Pythagoras found some kind of
relationships between sound vibrations, but it is precisely
the Pythagorean scale that turned out to be unsuitable for
our music. '
"I magine the surprise of my friend ' when J showed him
tha t in running his hands over the ke ys of a modern piano he
was actually playing on logarithms. Indeed, the steps of
the temperea chromatic scale are not arranged at equal distan­
ces either with respect to the number of vibrations or with
respect to the wavelengths of the appropriate sounds; they
are the logarithms of these quantities. Only the base of the
logarithms is 2 instead of 10, as commonly used.
"Suppose the note do of the lowest octave (we will call
it the zero octave) is given as n vibrations per second. Then
the note do of the f,rst octave will have 2n vibrations, that
of the mth octavo, n ·2m vibrations, and so on. Let us denote
all notes of the chromatic scale of a piano by the numbers p,
assuming the fundamental tone do of each octave to be the
zero tone. Then, for example, sol is the 7th tone, la the 9th,
and so on. The 12th tone is again do, only an octave higher.
215
In a tempered chromatic scale, each tone has �·2 more vibra­
tions than the preceding tone. That means that the number
of vibrations of an.y tone can be expressed by the formula
Npm= n · 2m (;YZ)p.
"Taking logarithms, we get
log 2
log Npm = log n + m log 2 + P 12
or
log N pm = log n -+ ( m . / . ; ) log 2.
2

Now, taking the number of vibrations of the lowest do as

unity (n = 1) and converting all logarithms to base 2 (or
simply taking log 2 = 1 ) , we have

log N pm = m + ;2 .

"From this we see that the numbers of the keys of a piano

represent the logarithms of the numbers of vibrations of the
appropriate sounds (multiplied by 12). We may even say
that the number of the octave is the characteristic, and the
number of the sound i n the given octave (divided by 12)
is the mantissa of that logarithm."
Let us take an example. In the tone sol of the third octave,
that is, in the number 3 + /2 (",, 3 .583), the number 3 is the
characteristic of the logarithm of the number of vibrations
of the tone, and 17 ( ",, 0.583) is the mantissa of that loga­
2
rithm to the base 2; hence the number of vibrations is 23.583
or 1 1 .98 times greater than the number of vibrations of the
tone do of the first octave.
216
 The Stal's, Noise and Loyal·ithms
this heading with its combination of apparently uncom­
binable items is not an attempt to parody Kuzma Prutkov
and his writings; it does indeed concern stars and noise and
logarithms, all closely related.
Noise and stars are grouped together because the loudness
of noise and the brightness 01 stars are both gauged in tile
same manner, by a logarithmic scale.
Astronomers divide the stars according to apparent bright­
ness into first-magnitude stars, second-magnitude, and so on ,
The sequence of stellar magnitudes is perceived b y the human
eye as terms in an arithmetic progression. However, the
physical brightness varies according to a different law; the
objective brightnesses of the stars form a geometric progres­
sion with ratio 2.5. I t is easy to see that the magnitude of
a star is nothing other than the logarithm of its physical
brightness. For example , stars of third magnitude are bright­
er than those of first magnitude by a factor of 2.5' - 1, or 6.25.
In short, the astronomer estimates the apparent brightness of
stars by operating with a table of logarithms to the base 2.5.
I now leave this topic because it has been dealt with in
sufficient detail in my book entitled Recreational Astronomy
[i n Russian].
Tho loudness of sound is described in similar fashion.
The harmful effect of industrial noises on the health of work­
ers and on the productivity of labour was a n impetus to
work out ways of an exact numerical evaluation of the l oud­
ness of sound. The unit of loudness is the ��berl and the prac­
tical unit is a tenth of a bel, or t.he decibel. Successive degrees
of loudness-1 bel, 2 bels and so on (practically speaking,
10 decibels, 20 decibels, and so on)-constitute to our ear
an arithmetic progression. But the physical intensity of
10.
these noises form a geometric progression with common ratio
To a loudness difference of 1 bel there corresponds a di ffer­
ence of 1 0 in the intensity of the noises. This means the

15-0891 217
loudness of sonnd expressed in beh is equai to the comrrton
logarithm of its physical intensity.
A few examples will help to clarify this matter.
The soft rustling of leaves is estimated at 1 bel, a loud
conversation is put at 6 . 5 bels, the growl of a lion at 8.7 bels.
From this it follows that the sound intensity of a conversa­
tion exceeds the rustling of leaves by a factor of
10 6 . 5 - 1 = 10' 5 � 316 000.
The growling of a lion is louder than a conversation by a
factor of
10 8 . 7 - <;,5 10 2. 2 = 158.
=

Noise louder than 8 bels is recognized as being injurious

to the human organism. Many factories have higher noise
levels with noises of 10 and more bels. A hammer blow on a
steel sheet generates 11 bels of sound. Such noises are 100
and 1000 times stronger than tho permissible level and are 10
to 100 times louder than the loudest spot near the Niagara
falls (which is 9 bels).
Is it by accident that in measuring the apparent bright­
ness of stars and the loudness of sound we have to do with a
logarithmic relationship between the magnitude of tho per­
ception and the generating stimulus? No, both are a conse­
quence of a general law, called Fechner's law which is a
psychophysical law that states that the intensity of the
sensory response is proportional to the logarithm of the
stimulus intensity.
So you see logarithms have their way into psychology too.

l..ogltl'ithms in Elcct.'ic l�i!lhtin!l

P R O B LEM

The reason why gas-filled lamps produce a brighter light

than electric-filament va cuum lamps of the same material
lies ill the different temperature of the filament. B y a rule
218
that has been established in physics, the totai amount 01
light emitted at white incandescence increases with the 1 2th
power of the absolute temperature. With these facts, let us
now calculate how many times more light is emitted by a gas­
filled lamp whose filament l18s a temperature of 2500° Oli
the absolute scale (that is, reckoning from -273 Celsius)
than by a va cuum lamp with a filament at 2200°.
SOLUTION
Denoting the desired rela tion by x, we havo the equation
� ( 2500) " - ( 25)'2
X 22
_

2200

whence
log x = 12 (log 25 - log 22), x = 4.6.
A gas-fIlled lamp emits 4.6 times more light than a vacu­
um lamp. Thus, if a va cuum lamp is rated at 50 watts, then
the gas-filled lamp will yield 230 watts under the same con­
ditions.
Let us calculate further to find out what increase in abso­
lute temperature (in per cent) is necessary to double the
brightness of the lamp.
SOLUTION
We set up the equation
(1 + X )"
tOO
= 2
and find tha t
log ( 1 + t�o ) = l� 2 and X= 0%.

Finally, a third calculation. What is the percentage in­

crease in the brightness of a lamp if the (absolute) tempe­
rature of its filament increases by 1 % ?
219
 SOLUTION
Using logarithms to calculate the following expressioil,
X = 1 . 0 1 12,

we fmd that
x = 1 . 1 3.
The brightness increases 1 3 % .
Calculating for a two per cent increase in temperature,
we find a 27 per cent increase in brigbtness; if the tempera­
ture increases 3 % , the brightness will increase 43% .
It is DOW clear why so much attention in the manufacture
of electric light bulbs is paid to increasing the temperature
of the filament, with every extra degree at a premium.

llIaking out It W ill lor lIundl'cds

01 Ycars

Who hasn't heard of the legendary number of grains of

wheat that the inventor of chess asked as a reward? That
number was built up out of a successive doubling of unity:
One grain was asked for the fIrst square on the chessboard,
two for the second, and so on, doubling each time until the
64th square was reached.
It will be found however that numbers tend to grow unex­
pectedly fast not only in the case of successive doubling
but even whon the rate of increase is rather moderate. Capi­
tal invested at 5% interest increases annually by a factor of
1.05. This would not seem to be much of an increase, yet if
the time interval is long enough the capital builds up into a
tremendous sum. This explains the amazing increase of
capital bequeathed for very long periods of time. I t seems
very strange indeed that a testator can leave a small sum of
money and also instructions for the payment of enormous
no
 sums. Yet here is the case of the famous United States states­
man Benjamin Franklin who ·Ieft a will of extreme interest.
In rough outline it amounts to this.
One thousand pounds sterling is be queathed by Franklin
to the residents of the city of Boston. I t is requested that the
most illustrious citizens of the city be entrusted with that
. sum, which is to be lent at 5 per cont interest annually to
young hand icraftsmen (thoro ·were no institutions of com­
mercial credit in the United States in those days). In one
hundred years this sum would increase to 131 000 pounds
sterling. He then instructed 100 000 pounds to be used for
the construction of municipal buildings and tho remaining
31 000 pounds to be invested at interest for 100 years. At
the end of the second century, the sum was to have increased
to 4 060 000 pounds sterling, of which 1 060 000 pounds were
to be left to the residents of Boston to be used at their dis­
cretion, while 3 000 000 pounds were to go to the manage­
ment of the community of Massachllsetls. Beyond that,
Benjamin Franklin did not risk further uses of his accumu­
lated money.
He left only 1000 pounds but with instructions involving
millions. There is no contradiction here, however. A mathe­
matical calculation will show that the reasoning behind this
operation is quite realistic. Every year 1000 pounds increase
by a factor of 1.05 and in 100 years become
x = 1000 · 1 . 05'00 pounds.
This expression can be calculated with the aid of loga­
rithms:
log x = log toOO + 100 log 1.05 = 5.11893,
which yields
x = 131 000,
in complete agreement with the text of Franklin's will.
Then we have 31 000 pounds which during the next century
221
become
y � 31 000· U) 5 1OO ,
whence, using logarithms, we get
y � 4 076 500
which is practically the same as that indicated in thl� will. .
I leave it to the reader to tackle the following pi·oblem
taken from .The Messieurs Golovlev of the Russian writer
Saltykov-Shchedrin.
"Porfiry Vladimirovich is seated in his study numbering
extensively on some sheets of paper. The question that inter­
ests bim is: How much money would he now have if his
dear motber had not taken the 100 rubles given to him by
bis grandfather when he was born, but had banked it in the
name of the young Porfiry? It turned out to be very little,
however: only eight hundred rubles."
Assuming that at the time of the calculations Porfiry was
50 and again assuming that he carried out the calculations
correctly (which is really hard to believe since Golovlev
most likely did not know about logarithms and could not be
expected to handle compound interest calculations), it is
lequired to find out the interest he would have received.

Constant Growtb of Capital

In savings banks, the interest is added to the principal
annuall y. If the interest is added more frequently, then the
capital grows faster because a larger amount of money partici­
pates in the formation of interest. Let us take a purely theo­
retical and extremely simplified case. Suppose a deposit of
100 rubles is made in a savings bank at 100 % annual inter­
est. If the interest is added to the principal only at the end of
one year, then by that time the 100 rubles becomes 200.
Now let us see what happens if the interest is added to the
222
principal every half-year. At the end of the half-year period
the 100 rubles increases as follows:
100 rubles · 1 . 5 = 150 rubles.

Aiter the next half-year period we have

150 rubles · 1 .5 = 225 rubles.

If the interest is added every 1/3 year, then at the expira­

tion of one year the 100 rubles tmns into
100 rubles . ( 1 ; )' � 237 rubles and 03 kopecks .

Let us now speed up the adding of interest: we will add

it to the capital, say, at intervals of 0.1 year, then 0.01 year,
0.001 year and so on. Then 100 rubles will generate the fol­
lowing sums after one year:
100 rubles · l .l" "" 259 rubles 37 kopecks,'
100 rubles . 1.01100 � 270 rubles 48 kopecks,
100 rubles . 1 .001 1000 � 271 rubles 69 kopecks.

Higher mathematics can be used to prove that if the time

intervals are reduced without limit, the built-up capital
does not increase without bound, but rather approaches a
certain limit which is approximatoly* equal to
271 rubles and 83 kopecks.

Capital deposited at 100% can never increase faster than

2.7183 t imes even if the interest is added to the principal
every second .

• Fractionll of kopecks were dropped.

223
 The Number e

Tho number 2 . 718 . . . plays a fundamental role in higher

mathematics (probably not less signifICant than the famous
number ,,) and has a special symbol: e. This number is
irrational, which means it cannot be exactly expressed by
any finite number of digits' and is computed in approxi­
m,te fashion only-to any desired degree of accuracy-by the
following series:
1 ..L 1 1
+ \ ·2 . 3 . 4 . 5 + . . .
1 1
1 Tj
, , t.2
+ + \·2·3.4
1 .2.3

From the example given above about the growth of capital

in terms of compound interest, it is easy to see that the Dum';'
ber e is the limit of the expression

( 1 + +r
as n increases without bound.
For many reasons which we cannot go into hero tho number
e is highly desirable as a base for logarithms. Such tables
(tables of "natural logarithms") exist and are extensively
used in science and engineering. Tho champion logarithms
involving 48, 61, 102 and 260 digits that we spoke of a little
while ago use the number e for their base.
The number e often puts in an appearance where it is least
of all expected. Let us take a look at the following problem.
How should one partition a given number�a so that the
product of all its parts is a maximum?
We already know that the largest product for a constant sum
is obtained when the numbers are all equal. Clearly, the
number a is to be partitioned into equal parts. But into how
tnany equal parts? Two, three or ten? Techniques in higher
* Also, this nnmber, Hke re, is transcendental, which means it
Mnnot be obtained by solving any algebraic equati An invl)lvin2' _intQ�
fitra l coefficient�,

224
mathematics enable us to establish that the largest product
is obtained when the parts are as close as possible to e.
For example, partition 10 into a number of equal parts
such that they are as close as possible to 2.718 . . . . To do
this we have to fmd the quotient
10
2 . 718 . .
3.678 '"

Since it is not possible to partition the number into

3.678 . . . equal parts, we choose the closest whole number 4
as the divisor. Thus, we obtain the largest product of the
parts of 10 if the parts are equal to � , or 2,5.
And so
(2.5)' � 39'() 625
is the largest number that can be obtained from mUltiplying
together equal parts of the number 10. Indeed, dividing 10
into :, or .5 equal parts, we get smaller products:

( In ' � 37,

(�) 5 = 32.
Tn order to obtain the largest product of the parts of 20,
the number has to be partitioned into 7 equal parts because
20 : 2.718 . . . � 7 . 36 "" 7.
The number 50 has to be partitioned into 18 parts and the
number 100 into 37 parts because
50 : 2.718 . . . � 18.4"
100 : 2.718 . . . � 36.8.
The number e plays a tremendous role in mathematics,
physics, astronomy and other sciences. Here are some of the
questions considered mathematically that involve e ( the
list could be extended indefinitely ) :
225
 Barometric height formula (decreasing pressure with in­
creasing height),
Euler's formula (see the second part of my Physics for
Entertainment (Mir Publishers, Moscow): the chapter entitled
uJules Verne's Strong Man and Euler's Formula"),
The law of cooling of bodies,
Badioactive decay and the age of the earth,
Oscillations of a pendulum in the air,
Tsiolkovsky's formula for rocket speeds (see my book
Tnterplanetary Travel [in HussianJ),
Oscillatory phenomena in a radio circuit,
The growth o/. cells,

A Logarithmic Comedy
.
PI\OBLEM
Here is another one of those mathemalical comedies played
out in Chapter 5: prove that 2 > 3. This time we make use
of logarithms. The comedy starts out with the inequality

4 >8'
! 1

which is defmitely correct. We then transform to

(+) 2 > ( � ) 3 ,
which is unquestionably clear. To the greater number there
corresponds the greater logarithm, and so
2 10glO ( { » 3 1 0glO ({) ;

cancelling out log" ( { ) we are Jeft with: 2 > 3. What is

wrong with this proof?
226
 SOLUTION
The trouble is that when we cancelled out log" (+ ) we
forgot to reverse the sign of the inequality (> to <); yet
this was necessary because Iog 1 o ( �) is a negative number.
. \ .
If we had taken logs to a base n of less than 2 lllstead of 10,
then logn ( +) would be positive, but then we couldn't have
asserted that the greater number is associated with the larger
logarithm.

A.ny :Vumbm' via TILl'ce Twos

PROBLEM
And now we end this book with a witty algebraic brain­
teaser that amused the participants of a congress of physi­
cists in Odessa. The problem is to represent any number that
must be positive and whole (any positive integer) using three
twos and mathematical symbols.
SOLUTION
Let us take a particular case. Suppose we are given the
number 3. Then the problem is solved thus: 3 =

= -log , log, V (V 2.
It is easy to see that this equation is true. In deed,
!

V (V 2= (2i [ n' = 2'; = 2'-"

227
 If we were given the number 5, we would proceed in the
sarno manner:

5 = - log 2 10g, VV I V yz.

It will be seen that we have made use of the fact that the
index 2 is dropped when writing the square root.
The general solution looks like this. If the given number
is N, then

N = - log 2 10g, V V .
��
V V i,
N times
. .

the number of radical signs equalling the number of units in

the given number.
 TO THE READER

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 O'rHEn MIn TITLES

v. LIDSKY ET AI.. A collection of problems in

PROBLEMS elementary mathematics of
IN ELEMENTARY above-average difficulty, COm pilerl
MATHEMATICS
by the authors from the entrance
examinations for the Moscow
Physico -Technical Jnstitu te.
Will be found a usefnl source of
questions for school examination
papers and for extra class work.
Solutions and answers are given
for all problems. The presentation
falls into four sections: algebra,
planimetry! stereometry
and trigonometry.
N. EFIMOV A combined course in linear
AND 1. ROZ_ENDonN
algebra
LINEAR ALGEBRA
AND MULTI-DIMENSIONAL
and the analytical geometry
GEOMETRY of n-dimensions for university
students. J s mainly concerned
with the theory of finite linear
space and linear transformations,
but also deals with tensor
algebra (with examples of
its application) . Will be found
useful by engineering students,
graduate engineers, and scientific
workers in various spheres who
employ the methods of this
field of mathematics.
V. MASLOV, D. SC. A textbook for second- and
OPEllATIONAL MllTHODS
third-year university
mathematics
and physics students, based on
the author's lectures in the
faculty of applied mathematics
of the Moscow Institute of
Electronic Engineering and tho
physics faculty of Moscow
University. Illustrates the
theoretical material with
specific physical problems,
which are taken as the model,
comparing the formulas of the
operational method with the
numerical solution. Will
interest scientific workers in.
general.
Yal.Perelman numerous excursions into history
and the history of algebra
--====+<====:=-- too. Quite naturally, a number

ALGEBRA of things sound a bit

old-fashioned-times have

CAN changedl-but the efforts

of Lenin Prize Winner

BE V. G. Boltyansky, who edited the

latest edition and added a good

FUN deal of fresh material from the

world of computers, have given

The first edition of Alg.bra Can

extra polish to this gem of

Be Fan came out in the nineteen

entertainment. No one 'Yho has
read this book will ever regard
twenties and was destined to
mathemstics again in a dull
light. Reviewers regard it
a wonderful future of bringing
as
hundreds of th01Il!8llds
one of the tinest examples'
of youngsters into the fold of
of popular science writing.
mathematics and its wonders. It
is written in the form of lively
sketches that discuss the
multifarious (and excitingl)
applications of algebra to the
world about us. Here we

MIR
encounter equations, logarithms,
roots, progressions, the ancient
and famous Djophantine analysis
and much more. The examples afe . Publishers
pictorial, vivid, often witty
and bring out the essence of the Moscow
matter at hand. There are